Ten years after it ceased operations, the US wants to reestablish its embassy in Libya because Russia still has significant influence there.
In order to “enable a potential resumption of embassy operations in Libya, providing operational expenses for a planned Diplomatic Travel and Support Operations Facility as well as increased utilization of dedicated aircraft stationed in Malta for flights to Tripoli,” the State Department has requested $12.7 million in funding for the fiscal year 2025.
The budget request notes that “U.S. presence with trips into Libya is vital to preserving our long-term security interests, with Russia’s influence rising on NATO’s southern flank.”The US is “actively negotiating for an interim facility that would provide appropriate security and staffing support” in Tripoli, the country’s capital, according to a State Department official on Monday.
Given Moscow’s strong influence in Libya, the US has decided to restore its diplomatic complex there.
Head of US Africa Command, Marine Corps Gen. Michael Langley, issued a warning last week: “[A] number of countries are at the tipping point of actually being captured by the Russian Federation as they are spreading some of their false narratives across Libya and from a strategic answer piece, access and influence across the whole Maghreb.” That is the southern flank of NATO.
That is the southern flank of NATO. From Morocco to Libya, we must be able to have and keep influence and access throughout the Mahgreb.
The budget also asks for “$3.9 billion for Diplomatic Security and related programs to protect U.S. diplomatic operations abroad, including our expanded presence in the Indo-Pacific, Libya, and Eastern Caribbean,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in a statement on Monday.
In July 2014, the embassy in Tripoli ceased operations because of civil instability, around two years after the US facilities in Benghazi, Libya, were attacked. That attack claimed the lives of three more Americans in addition to Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.
Due to criminality, terrorism, civil upheaval, kidnapping, and other issues, the US continues to urge its people not to travel to Libya.
