US top general to attend UN peacekeeping meeting

UNITED NATIONS – Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, will attend a United Nations meeting on peacekeeping.

The U.S. Mission to the United Nations said in a statement that the meeting Friday will be a follow-up to President Barack Obama's 2015 Leaders' Summit on Peacekeeping.

The mission said the visit marks the first time America's top general has attended a meeting at the U.N.

Obama's peacekeeping summit saw countries pledging over 40,000 troops for peacekeeping missions, giving the U.N. a greater choice when deploying future missions, offering a wider bench to choose the soldiers best suited to a particular mission.

The closed meeting will be an opportunity for the U.N. to take stock of the summit commitments and highlight where progress is still needed, the mission said.