Jordan Times
Monday, September 24, 2001
King to meet Straw today
AMMAN (Petra) — Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw will start his first visit to the region today with talks here with His Majesty King Abdullah to discuss the situation following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States as well as the current state of the Middle East peace process. Straw will then depart to Tehran, with his regional tour including Israel, the Palestinian National Authority and Egypt.
On Sunday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lieutenant General Mohammad Malkawi met with visiting British Chief of Staff Admiral Sir Michael Boyce to review the situation in the region as well as military cooperation and coordination.Meanwhile, AFP reported yesterday that the Jordan Armed Forces has begun joint wargames with troops from the United States and Britain. It said the exercises were aimed at “exchanging military expertise” but gave no further details.
AFP added that Jordanian troops trained with a British infantry unit ahead of the games.
There was no mention of a link between the exercises and an expected US strike on Afghanistan following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.