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U.S. Defense Secretary begins European tour meeting with Spanish counterpart

Xinhua, October 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter began his European tour with a meeting with his Spanish counterpart Pedro Morenes on Monday.

The meeting took place amid worries over Russian bombardments in Syria, the Syrian refugee crisis and amid the backdrop of last week's bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan possibly by a U.S. warplane, which killed at least 22 civilians.

Carter gave what the U.S. Defense Department described as a "major speech on the need for strong principled security cooperation in a complex world."

He said that today's security environment "requires the kind of strong and longstanding partnership we have had for decades with Spain and our NATO allies," adding the "transatlantic alliance has shown time and again that it has the capacity and agility to adapt and respond to new threats."

Carter also praised Spain for the "valuable" role it was playing in operations against the Islamic State.

The U.S. official will also visit the U.S. base in Moron de la Frontera, which has a permanent force of over 2,000 U.S. military personnel, before traveling to Italy and Britain before attending a NATO meeting in Brussels. Endit