After the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, expressed concern about looming defence cuts in the UK, Petraeus said he had been assured by David Cameron and other British political leaders that the commitment to operations in Afghanistan was "iron clad".
General David Petraeus, who also revealed he had spoken to the father of aid worker Linda Norgrove and gave more details about the circumstances surrounding her death, said he had been assured by David Cameron that the UK's commitment to operations in Afghanistan was ring-fenced and "iron clad".
The Yemen bombings, along with recent attacks in Algeria and Tunisia, appear to demonstrate the growing regional reach of Islamic State, and their commitment to operations targeting civilians.
Already, we have long-term troop commitments in Europe and the Pacific, with an estimated 116,000 troops in Europe, 90,000 in the Pacific (nearly 40,000 in Japan and 38,000 in Korea) and additional troop commitments to operations in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo and elsewhere.
Once a warning system becomes operational and depended upon, there must be sufficient ongoing funding and institutional commitment to continue operation indefinitely and to regularly educate and train the at-risk population.
Administration officials have repeatedly told the American people to be prepared for a conflict that could last many years, an admonition reinforced by the Pentagon's announcement this month that it would more than double the American troop commitment to the operation in Iraq against Islamic State, to almost 3,000.
If we bother to show up the UN at all, we must do it with a commitment to co-operation and, when co-operation is impossible, with open ears and eyes.
That means no naval commitment to joint operations in the South China Sea and no enhanced US military facilitation of such operations.
