WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US military would not necessarily shoot down a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile, should the country’s leader try to test one, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Tuesday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said in a New Year’s speech that the country was “in the final stages of test-launching the intercontinental ballistic missile.” Carter, whose two-year run as Pentagon chief will come to an end when President Barack Obama leaves […]
Tag: Ashton Carter
Pentagon chief urges ‘isolation operation’ for IS-held Raqa
ARBIL, Iraq (AFP) — US defence chief Ashton Carter said Sunday that an operation to isolate the Islamic State group in Syria’s Raqa should begin in conjunction with the assault on the jihadists’ Iraqi bastion Mosul. “We want to see an isolation operation begin around Raqa as soon as possible,” Carter said during a visit to Iraq’s autonomous region of Kurdistan to review an ongoing offensive to retake Mosul from IS. “We are working with […]
US-Philippines military alliance ‘ironclad’: Pentagon chief
SAN DIEGO, United States (AFP) — US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Thursday that America’s alliance with the Philippines was “ironclad,” despite that country’s president vowing a day earlier to end joint military exercises. “As it has been for decades, our alliance with the Philippines is ironclad,” Carter said, addressing troops aboard the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, docked in San Diego. On Wednesday, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said he would soon end joint military […]
President Aquino meets with U.S. Defense Chief during courtesy call in Palace
MANILA, April 15 – President Benigno S. Aquino III on Thursday met with US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter during a courtesy call in Malacañang Palace. Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Foreign Affairs Secretary Jose Rene Almendras joined President Aquino during his meeting with Carter. The American defense chief, who arrived in the country on Wednesday, was accompanied by US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg; Ambassador David Shear, US assistant secretary of defense; Eric Rosenbach, […]
China tensions top agenda as Pentagon chief heads to Asia
by Laurent Barthelemy WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter headed Saturday to India and the Philippines for talks on increasing regional defense cooperation, after calling off a planned trip to China amid tensions over Beijing’s expansionist ambitions in the South China Sea. Carter will fly out of Washington and travel to India and the Philippines for his Asian tour, followed by Middle East stops in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi […]





