US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday said that NATO's military operation in Libya would take time to achieve its goals, dpa reported.
"We all need to be a little patient," Clinton said at the end of a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Berlin, adding that the alliance was operating in a "complex situation."
"We are still in the process of trying to identify targets, attack and destroy key elements of (Libyan leader Moamer) Gaddafi's arsenal, his air defense system and his chain of command," she added.
At the same time, Clinton said NATO campaign was making progress in Libya.
"I am very positive about what we have accomplished so far." On Thursday, the foreign ministers of NATO's 28 member states and six additional countries supporting the Libya campaign agreed to three conditions which had to be met before they would end their deployment.
These were an end to all attacks on civilians, a complete withdrawal of all soldiers - including mercenaries - to their bases and humanitarian access for all Libyan people. Clinton expressed satisfaction with the results of the Berlin talks, and said NATO was "not alone" in implementing the United Nations Security Council resolution protecting civilians against aggression.
She was also in favour of seeking ways to support Libya's opposition rebels, for example by funding them with oil revenues or frozen assets of the Gaddafi regime.