President Trump praised Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar in a phone call this week, the White House revealed Friday, as Haftar continued an offensive to capture Libya’s capital and largest city, Tripoli, from the country’s U.S.-backed government.
Trump’s complimentary conversation, which took place Monday, suggests a pivot in his administration’s stance toward Haftar after the strongman ignored U.S. requests for a cease-fire.
Haftar, a secularist who has controlled most of eastern Libya since 2014, is seeking to emerge the victor in a five-year civil war that began with a dispute over election results, with rival Islamists losing and then refusing to concede power. The United Nations says that at least 213 people have been killed and 1,009 injured in clashes in Tripoli this month as Haftar’s Libyan National Army has advanced on the city in an attempt to oust Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, who leads the United Nations-recognized Government of National Accord.
On April 7, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the United States had “made clear that we oppose the military offensive by Khalifa Haftar’s forces and urge the immediate halt to these military operations against the Libyan capital.” The Pentagon announced the same day that U.S. forces in Libya had been “temporarily relocated from the country in response to security conditions on the ground.” Pompeo told Fox News the next day, “We urge General Haftar to stand down, move back to the negotiating table so that we can get a political resolution in Libya.”
A week later, Trump took a different tone in his conversation with Haftar, the call readout suggests.
Trump and Haftar spoke April 15 “to discuss ongoing counterterrorism efforts and the need to achieve peace and stability in Libya,” the White House said. “The President recognized Field Marshal Haftar’s significant role in fighting terrorism and securing Libya’s oil resources, and the two discussed a shared vision for Libya’s transition to a stable, democratic political system.”
It was actually Haftar’s Islamist rivals, backed by the United States, who drove Islamic State jihadists out of their stronghold in Sirte in 2016.
The White House did not say if Trump requested an end to fighting. News reports indicate that Haftar continued his offensive throughout the week.
Libya has been mired in anarchy since Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown in 2011. Haftar helped Gadhafi take power in a 1969 coup, but later turned on the leader and aided the forces that deposed him. Chad took Haftar, then an officer in Gaddafi’s army, as a prisoner of war in 1987. Haftar and his fellow captives eventually hatched an unsuccessful plot to overthrow the Libyan leader. Haftar moved to Langley, Va., in 1990 in a deal with the CIA. He remained in America for 20 years, even becoming a U.S. citizen.
The United States and Russia both declined on Thursday to support a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in Tripoli. U.S. Africa Command leader Gen. Thomas Waldhauser told the House Armed Services Committee last month that Russia was backing Haftar in part to gain influence in a strategic area to NATO’s south. “Behind the scenes there’s no doubt about the fact they’ve supported the [Libyan National Army] with all kinds of equipment, people, training, and the like, and they’ve supported Haftar, who has moved now from the east to the west and essentially has been taking a lot of real estate to get into a good position for leverage for diplomatic talks.”
