Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — U.S. officials said the Obama administration has reached out to Muslim allies
within and outside NATO to help rebuild Libya’s military.

The officials cited Morocco and Turkey, the latter which recently completed a training course for Libyan
soldiers.

“The Libyan institutions across the board are very, very weak after the reign of Gadhafi,” U.S. Africa Command chief Gen. David Rodriguez said.

In a briefing on April 8, Rodriguez said the United States was involved in two missions meant to train up to 20,000 Libyans. One was identified as a multi-national program that included Turkey.

“Two of those countries have started training, the Turks and the Italians,” Rodriguez said. “And the first Turkish force trained has just returned to Libya, but it’s too soon to tell how effective they will be.”

Another program involved Morocco. Officials said Morocco was part of a NATO effort stuck amid Libya’s failure to finance the training project.

“Between the four European partners, the U.S. and the Moroccans, they’ve committed to train up to 20,000 people in that force,” Rodriguez said. “And the U.S. right now is waiting on money coming from the Libyan government to begin to fund the training in Bulgaria.”

Officials said NATO could not deploy a sizeable force of military
trainers in Libya. They said Libya has become a magnet for Al Qaida, which
used the country for operations throughout North Africa and Sahel.

“It’s very difficult to move around within Tripoli, much less beyond
Tripoli,” Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Amanda Dory said.

  Gen.David Rodriguez, Tripoli, U.S. calls on Muslim allies Turkey and Morocco to train Libya’s ‘weak’ military, very weak’ military