Washington warns enemies: American policy is not a sign of weakness

2024-07-26 11:40:03, Kosova & Bota CNA

Washington warns enemies: American policy is not a sign of weakness

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Air Force, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.

US diplomats and military officials dismissed concerns that recent sudden changes in the US political scene are a sign of weakness, warning America's enemies on Thursday against attempts to exploit political developments in the country.

"They need to think again," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

"We are focused on the national security challenges facing the country", he added. "This includes responding to our adversaries when appropriate."

At the Pentagon, officials insisted that the US military is ready for any challenge it may face from its adversaries.

"As far as the question of whether or not our adversaries are testing us at this particular moment, they always test us," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

"It's just something that represents them and that they do," he told reporters. "I don't think this particular moment is any different."

The warnings from Washington come less than a week after President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the presidential race, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee in the race against former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump.

"Nothing can stand in the way of saving our democracy," President Biden said in an address to the nation on Wednesday.

The US military raised public concerns after announcing shortly before President Biden's speech that, for the first time, Russian and Chinese strategic bombers flew a joint training mission, coming within 350 kilometers of the northwestern US state of Alaska.

Other officials have also warned of the threat from emboldened enemies of the United States.

FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers on Wednesday that Iran still seeks revenge against former President Trump and some of his advisers for the January 2020 killing of former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qassem Soleimani.

Other US officials have expressed concern about the actions of Iranian-backed forces, such as ongoing attacks by members of Yemen's Houthi group on international shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, attacks by other groups backed by Iran to US troops in Iraq and Syria.

"We are limiting the capability of the Houthi group," US Joint Chiefs of Staff General CQ Brown said Thursday at a press conference at the Pentagon.

"But at the same time, it will take more than a military operation to defeat them," he said. "This includes a commitment with the international community and other US agencies to use various means to put pressure on the Houthi group so that its members cease these attacks."

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the US military is ready to counter any attempt by enemies to weaken America.

"I think we will continue to see these threats in the future," he said at the press conference. "But we have the largest army in the world, the most capable army, and we will continue to defend this country."/ VOA