US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on Thursday the United States was watching events in Libya very carefully but had made no decision on expanding its role there, according to the Daily Mail.

Carter, on a visit to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, said the focus was now on political change in Libya, where two warring administrations are expected to form a unity government.

"The concern there is that Libya not get on a glide slope to the kind of situation that we find elsewhere, where (the so-called Islamic State), in a politically disrupted environment, seizes a foothold, gathers a piece of territory from which it is able to tyrannize people, and plot operations elsewhere," Carter added.

"The most important objective right now is to help Libyans come together and help put their government back together," he said.

Once that was accomplished, the US government had said it was willing to join other countries, including Italy, in helping secure the country, he said.

Source: MENA