Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, General Commander of Libya’s National Army (LNA), is preparing to visit the U.S. capital Washington D.C. after receiving an official invitation from the White House to meet President Donald Trump.
According to private sources of The Libyan Address Journal, Field Marshal Haftar, whose forces control three-quarters of Libya, will discuss with President Trump in the coming days efforts to combat terrorism. An area in which the LNA is expert, after the battles in which it defeated the al-Qaeda, Ansar al-Sharia, and ISIS militants in Benghazi, Derna, the Oil Crescent, al-Jufra, and Fezzan. This is in addition to LNA’s ongoing battles in Tripoli against the Islamist militias allied with the weak government of Fayez al-Sarraj.
Haftar-Trump summit will also discuss efforts to restore stability in Libya, which reached an advanced stage after LNA units liberated major parts of the country from the grip of extremist militias. For example, Benghazi, the second most populated city in Libya, has witnessed a high state of stability and economic prosperity. Civil society institutions, schools, and courts have also returned to work in the city of Derna, which was under ISIS and Al-Qaeda affiliated groups since 2011. Security and economic conditions have stabilized in most cities controlled by the LNA.
The Haftar-Trump summit will also discuss the protection of oil fields and export ports in Libya, which the military led by Marshal Haftar have succeeded in securing. Libya’s oil production rates reached record levels, according to Libya’s oil fields and ports administrations. The oil of Libya was almost halting production in the period from 2011 to 2016, the period controlled by militant Ibrahim al-Jadhran wanted by INTERPOL. Libya’s oil fields and ports were liberated by the LNA in 2016 Operation al-Barq al-Khatif (“Sudden Lightning”) without causing any bloodshed.
On the agenda of the meeting of the Libyan and American parties in the White House as well, the file of the classification of the Muslim Brotherhood on the lists of terrorism, especially after the elected Libyan parliament has designated the group as a terrorist organization after its involvement in providing of terrorist organizations of Ansar al-Sharia and al-Qaeda, with money, weapons, and political and media support.
In spite of campaigns funded by pressure groups close to the governments Qatar, Turkey, and the Muslim Brotherhood trying to distort the Field Marshal’s efforts, Haftar has repeatedly indicated that he supports elections, democracy, and the peaceful transfer of power in Libya, stressing that the LNA units are ready to provide the appropriate atmosphere for holding Free and fair elections in which the Libyan people express their will.
Khalifa Haftar, Libya’s strong man, is widely seen locally and internationally as the key to restoring stability and security in the North-African nation ruled by militias and weak governments struggling for power since 2011.
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