Washington/cairo: The White House yesterday reported “very good progress” in efforts to build a multinational coalition to “degrade and ultimately defeat” the Islamic State militants who murdered British aid worker David Haines and two American journalists.
The Secretary of State, John Kerry, said he was “extremely encouraged” by promises of military aid, including ground troops and air strikes, which he said he had received from several countries during his trip through the Middle East to build support.
Denis McDonough, the White House chief of staff, said he was confident President Barack Obama’s efforts to win Washington lawmakers’ approval for US military resources to be used in support of Syrian forces would be successful.
“We are seeing very good progress in Congress, including in the House under the speaker’s [Republican John Boehner] leadership, to make sure that we have the authorities to train and equip those Syrian oppositionists who are fighting [IS],” McDonough said.
McDonough said that while American air strikes that have already taken place in Iraq, and which Obama has said might soon begin in Syria, would weaken IS, “Iraqi and other boots on the ground” would the key to defeating the terrorists.
“To destroy IS we need to have a force, an anvil against which they will be pushed,” McDonough said on CNN’s State of the Union.
“It will be a coalition that includes not only our friends in Europe and Asia but also our partners in the region, Muslim states, Sunni states. We’re going to use our unique capabilities, air power, ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] and our training ability to make sure Iraqi forces on one side and Syrian opposition forces on the other side of the border can take the fight to Isil.”
Last Thursday, a group of 10 Arab states, including Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, promised their backing.
Kerry, speaking from Egypt on the CBS programme Face the Nation, said the US was “putting together the whole package”. “This is a strategy coming together as the coalition comes together and the countries declare what they are prepared to do,” he said. “We have countries in this region, countries outside of this region, in addition to the United States, all of whom are prepared to engage in military assistance, in actual strikes if that is what it requires.
“We also have a growing number of people who are prepared to do all the other things. I’ve been extremely encouraged to hear from all of the people that I’ve been meeting with about their readiness and willingness to participate.
“People should not think about this effort just in terms of strikes. In fact, as some have pointed out, that alone is not going to resolve this challenge.”
Kerry restated Obama’s promise that no US ground forces would be used in the conflict, but said several other countries, which he would not name, had offered theirs. “We’re not looking to put troops on the ground. There are some who have offered to do so, but we are not looking for that at this moment anyway,” he said.
He added that the international community should not concentrate too much on his admission that the action against IS was a “war”. Congress will vote this week on whether to approve Obama’s request for $500m to help train and equip the Syrian rebels.
Kerry stressed yesterday that while the US would use the money to support the Syrian rebels, it had no intention of coordinating any action with the country’s government, despite a statement from the deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, that Syria would welcome air strikes and wanted to talk about teaming up.
“We’re not going to coordinate, it’s not a cooperative effort,” Kerry said. “We’re going to do what they haven’t done, what they had plenty of opportunity to do, which is to take on [IS] and to degrade it and eliminate it as a threat.”
The Guardian
