# U.S. officials continued direct engagement with Haftar as eastern military authority

Date: 2024

U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Celeste Wallander met [Haftar](/people/khalifa-haftar) in Libya in September 2024. The meeting reflected his continuing de facto position as a central military authority in eastern Libya despite the country's formally unresolved institutional unification.

## Drivers

- Haftar LNA parallel power, Tripoli offensive and oil coercion: https://factrail.ai/drivers/haftar-lna-parallel-power

## Sources

- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Khalifa_Haftar_in_2024.jpg
- https://unsmil.unmissions.org/en/news/security-council-renews-mandate-united-nations-support-mission-libya

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/us-officials-meet-haftar-2024