WASHINGTON- The U.S. said Tuesday it will start working together withTurkey “in a better fashion” so the two countries can achieve mutual goals.

State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert made the remarks at a dailypress briefing after a question about a meeting between Secretary of StateRex Tillerson, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and TurkishPresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara last week.

Nauert said Tillerson and Erdogan made a commitment to one another duringthe meeting and both Washington and Ankara recognized that the twocountries had not worked well enough together over the past few years.

“As NATO allies and partners who both share in the interest and the sharedgoal of defeating ISIS [Daesh], we are now going to start to work togetherin a better fashion so that we can achieve those mutual goals,” she added.

Turning to a question about Turkey’s ongoing military operation in Syria,Nauert emphasized that the U.S. is not equipping anyone in Afrin and U.S.forces are not operating there.

“So our knowledge in terms of what is going on in Afrin is somewhatlimited,” she noted.

On Jan. 20, Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch to clear PYD/PKK andDaesh terrorists from Afrin in northwestern Syria.

According to the Turkish General Staff, the operation aims to establishsecurity and stability along Turkey’s borders and the region as well asprotect Syrians from terrorist oppression and cruelty.

The operation is being carried out under the framework of Turkey’s rightsbased on international law, UN Security Council resolutions, itsself-defense rights under the UN Charter and respect for Syria’sterritorial integrity, it said.

The military also said only terror targets were being destroyed and that”utmost care” was being taken to not harm civilians. Anadolu Agency