Britain
and the US are to share expertise on preventing
radicalism and tackling domestic "violent extremism". Prime
Minister David Cameron announced the move following talks with President Barack
Obama at the White House, warning that they both faced a "poisonous and
fanatical ideology". Continue..
The
taskforce will report back to the two leaders within six months.Mr
Cameron also said Britain would deploy more unarmed drones to help ground forces
tackle Islamic State.
The
prime minister is on a two-day visit to Washington for talks with President Obama,
likely to be his final Washington visit before the UK general election in May.
At a press conference
in the White House, Mr Obama hailed Mr Cameron as a "great friend"
while the British prime minister said the US was a "kindred spirit".
The talks between the
two leaders came a week after the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris which
killed 17 people.
Concerns over
additional attacks by Islamic extremists intensified on Thursday, after two
people were killed during a targeted anti-terror raid by police in Belgium, to
pre-empt what officials there called a major impending attack.
'Fanatical
ideology'
UK police have said
there is "heightened concern" about the risk to the UK's Jewish
communities in the wake of last week's attacks and are considering stepping up
patrols in certain areas.
At a press conference
in the White House, Mr Cameron said it was a "sensible,
precautionary" measure to take to "reassure those communities".
Mr Cameron said:
"We face a poisonous and fanatical ideology that wants to pervert one of
the world's major religions, Islam, and create conflict, terror and death.
"With our allies
we will confront it wherever it appears."
President Obama said
the US, UK and its allies were "working seamlessly to prevent attacks and
defeat these terrorist networks".
Asked whether an
attack was "imminent" in Britain, Mr Cameron said the terror threat
level, set independently by the Joint Terrorism Assessment Centre, was
currently at "severe" - meaning an attack is "highly
likely".
'Long
struggle'
He warned that the
fight against terrorism "is going to be a long, patient and hard
struggle" but added that he was "quite convinced we will overcome
it" due to the strength of the West's values.
However, he stressed
that "everyone" had a role to play in keeping communities safe,
warning: "You cannot simply rely on policing and security."
As the press
conference took place, it emerged that counter-terrorism officers have arrested
an 18-year-old woman at Stansted Airport on suspicion of terrorism offences.
The prime minister
also announced that the UK would send an additional 1,000 troops to take part
in NATO military exercises in the Baltic states and eastern Europe amid
heightened tensions in the region following Russia's conflict with Ukraine.
Commenting on the announcement,
UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the extra troops would provide
"additional reassurance" and underlined the UK's commitment to its
allies.
On Iran, Mr Cameron
cautioned against further sanctions on the country over its nuclear programme,
warning that it would be "counter-productive" and could undermine
efforts for a diplomatic solution.
He said the UK and US
remained committed to ensuring Iran cannot develop a nuclear weapon, but added:
"The best way to achieve that now is to create the space for negotiations
to succeed."
Mr Cameron said he had
called "a couple" of US senators earlier in the day to make the case
against further economic penalties whilst talks are ongoing.
Six world powers want
Iran to curb its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions.
An interim deal was
struck in November 2013 but deadlines for a comprehensive deal have since been
missed. Negotiators have a March deadline to reach agreement on a framework.
Ahead of the talks at
the White House, which lasted just over an hour, it was announced that the UK
and US are to carry out "war game" cyber attacks on each other as
part of a new joint defence against online criminals.
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