colleague, the minister of defense, jean-yves le drian come here to the pentagon. france, as you may know, is america's oldest ally. too short. >> i had a french girlfriend once. can you just hold it like this? highly motivated. >> let me start again and thank my good friend, my colleague my admired colleague, the minister of defense of france, jean-yves le drian, here to the pentagon. france is america's oldest

i commend minister le drian and i commend minister le drian and france's commitment to the fight to delivera lasting defeat to isil. a campaign that we agreed requires a sustained and long-term effort. earlier this year france deployed its aircraft carrier, charles de gaulle, to the gulf to support counter isil strikes, integrating seamlessly with u.s. forces. the french air force, being the first to join us in striking isil targets in iraq, continues to play a critical role there. these are some of the reasons why france continues to be one of our strongest allies when it comes to the challenges in the middle east. we also discussed the france's persistent leadership in africa, particularly -- french operations there are preventing spillover of terrorism trafficking and extremism, disrupting al-qaeda affiliates, boko haram another extremists in north and west african nations like mali, niger and chad. the u.s. military will continue to support france in these efforts with our lift and aerial refueling -- refueling capabilities. also gave a new security challenges to europe's south and to t

i when i welcome minister le drian's comments before we get questions. thank you.[speaking french] >> translator: thank you, my dear friend. particularly happy to stand today in washington, d.c. after the celebration of july 4, for which as you recall i was in new york which is assigned of the premise of our common history old -- sundeck editors should be shoveled legion of honor to 23 veterans who participated in the landing in france in 1944. this common history which is of course old but now has the quality and the actuality center mentioned it yourself, our relationship has never been that tight for a long line tiger i can come from the. i thank you again, secretary carter, for your warm welcome and the quality of the exchanges we've had. we've always met in the past but it is the first time that we meet face-to-face center of arrived in the pentagon as secretary of defense. we have mentioned bilateral cooperation which is excellent. friends in the united states are i think together on many theaters. in the sahel where we are on the front lines where france par

i believe minister le drian would agree this is the best it has been ever. and we are committed to strength epping it still. we are reminding me celebrating america's independence or committing our shared victory the partnership between france and the united states has long been instrumentalto building peace and prosperity for people here and around the world. we must ensure it will always be. i'll now welcome the minister's comments before we take questions. thank you. >> translator: thank you, my dear friend. i'm particularly happy to stand today in washington, d.c. after the celebration of july fourth for which as you recall i was in new york with the passage of hermoine, which is a sign of the permanence of our common history. both the sailing and the legion of honor to 23 veterans who celebrated in the landing in france in 1944. this common history which is of course old now but also has the quality and the actuality since you mentioned it yourself our relationship has never been that tight for a long, long time. and i can confirm it. i thank you again