Washington is to double its assistance to the security forces in Tunisia, which faces an upsurge in jihadist violence, visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Friday.
"We are prepared to provide additional assistance and training to Tunisia's security forces. Our goal is to strengthen their capability to defeat those who threaten the nation's freedom and integrity," he told a news conference.
"To that end President (Barack) Obama is seeking to double our security assistance budget for Tunisia next year," Blinken said, without giving figures.
The American official said the aid would go towards boosting the military's control of the borders of Tunisia, which has been battling jihadists on its frontier with Algeria and arms smuggling from neighbouring Libya.
It would also be used "to deal with the terrorism challenge presented here in Tunisia", he said.
"Some of this will take the form of equipment, weapons. Other parts of it will take the form of training, technical advice co-ordination, information sharing," said Blinken.
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