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French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie arrived in Washington for a four-day visit to discuss NATO and the North Korea nuclear crisis with US officials.
The first woman to hold France's top defense post immediately went to the White House for an hour-long meeting with President George W. Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley.
“We talked about Lebanon, Afghanistan, and preparations for the (November) NATO summit in Riga,” Alliot-Marie told reporters at the end of the interview.
Lebanon, where France is playing a key peacekeeping role, was high on the agenda in the meeting, Alliot-Marie.
On a military level “the situation (in Lebanon) is calm but fragile,” Alliot-Marie told Hadley. She added that it was “important to avoid anything that may seem to revive the violence” such as Israeli air force flights over Lebanese air space.
Alliot-Marie said that US officials were seeking alternatives to overflights that would guarantee to the Israelis that there was no weapons smuggling.
Parts of Lebanon was devastated by Israel's month-long war on Shiite Muslim Hezbollah guerrillas that ended on August 14 under a UN-brokered ceasefire.
The French defense minister was in Lebanon three weeks ago. There are some 1,600 French soldiers — soon to be increased to 2,000 — deployed in southern Lebanon.
She is expected to also discuss Afghanistan and Lebanon during her four-day visit.
Also discussed was Afghanistan, where some 200 French commandos are deployed, primarily engaged in anti-terrorist operations.
Alliot-Marie and Hadley agreed that the Afghan state and its economy should be strengthened for military operations in the country to be seen as effective.
French forces first arrived there in 2001 as part of US-led operations to hunt down the Taliban and Al-Qaeda following the September 11 attacks.
She said nothing about news reports that France was planning to withdraw its commandos from Afghanistan, but the issue may be discussed Thursday when she meets with US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
On Friday Alliot-Marie heads to New York to hold talks with UN chief Kofi Annan.
