Mr. Blinken will join U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Brussels. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity on Saturday, did not release additional details on the trip.
Austin was scheduled to visit NATO headquarters in Belgium on a trip that started on Saturday and also includes Israel, Germany and Britain, the Pentagon said last week.
The trip by two of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet members coincides with increasing tensions over Russian activities near Ukraine’s eastern border, where Washington says Russia has amassed more troops than at any time since 2014, when it annexed Crimea.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine on Friday of “dangerous provocative actions” in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region.
Turkey, a NATO ally, said on Friday the United States would deploy two warships to the Black Sea from April 14-15.
Secretary Blinken first visited Brussels in March for talks with European Union and NATO allies and pledged to rebuild and revitalize trans-Atlantic alliances.
Afghanistan
On March, NATO foreign ministers met in Brussels to address a number of issues, including the situation in Afghanistan, foreign troop presence and assessing next steps.
“Ministers will continue consultations on the situation in Afghanistan, and our military presence [and] to assess our next steps together,” NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg has said. “There are no easy choices. And, for now, all options remain open. The security situation is difficult.”
American top diplomat Antony Blinken also focused on Afghanistan in NATO foreign ministerial conference.
Mr. Blinken was the one who said at a Senate confirmation hearing on January that he would undertake a review of a deal signed between the United States and the Taliban to end the long-decades war in the south-Asian country.
A year ago, U.S. President Biden’s predecessor signed an agreement with the Taliban that called for a U.S. troop withdrawal by May 1, 2021.
Mr. Biden now says meeting the May 1 deadline for troop withdrawal will be “tough”. But he added that his administration will make consultations with allies while making decisions.
The Taliban also has warned Washington against keeping forces beyond deadline.
(With Inputs from Reuters)
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