page_title: Azerbaijan–United States relations
section_title: Security partnership
hierarchical_section_title: Azerbaijan–United States relations / Contemporary relations / Security partnership
caption_attribution_description: English: Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld responds to a reporter's question during a joint press briefing with Minister of Defense Colonel General Safar Abiyev at the Presidential Palace in Baku, Azerbaijan. Rumsfeld is meeting with leaders of the Caucasus region to establish military-to-military links with those countries.
context_page_description: The United States and Azerbaijan have had diplomatic relations since 1994.
  According to the 2012 U.S. Global Leadership Report, 53% of Azerbaijanis approve of U.S. leadership, with 27% disapproving and 21% uncertain.
context_section_description: The U.S.-Azerbaijani security relations developed along several paths, including Azerbaijan's active participation in the NATO's Partnership for Peace program and the U.S.-led missions in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq; and the bilateral military ties to ensure Caspian energy and transportation security. In support of the U.S.-led War on Terror, apart from troop contributions, Azerbaijan provided overflight, refueling, and landing rights for U.S. and coalition aircraft bound for Afghanistan and Iraq; shared information to combat terrorism financing; detained and prosecuted suspected terrorists. Apart from usage of Azerbaijani airspace by U.S. air forces, over one-third of all of the nonlethal equipment including fuel, clothing, and food used by the U.S. military in Afghanistan travels through Baku.
  In November 2011, the United States Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus met with the Azerbaijani President and Defense Minister announcing the military ties between their countries would expand. The U.S. State Department already offered Azerbaijan $10 million to enhance its security structures in the Caspian Sea earlier that year.
caption: Donald Rumsfeld with Safar Abiyev during a press conference in Baku
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