Carter: US Seeking More Coalition Help Against Islamic State

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said President Barack Obama has reiterated to the military the need to accelerate the campaign against Islamic State, and that the United States is seeking more from coalition partners helping to fight the militants in Iraq and Syria.

“We need to identify and then carry out every conceivable way of accelerating the defeat of ISIL," Carter said, using an acronym for Islamic State.  He spoke to reporters as he flew to Turkey for talks on boosting assistance in the campaign against the militants.

“They’re hosting us at Incirlik Airbase, which is an extremely important contribution, but there’s more that needs to be done besides hosting our forces and other coalition forces.  We want Turkish forces to join in the air and the ground as appropriate,” he said.

Carter said U.S. commanders are working on new tactics and strategies, as well as ways to amplify the coalition effort.

“We’ve been devising and executing such accelerating steps for some time now," he said.  "We need more.  That was one of the things that the president repeated.”

Obama confident

Obama said Monday he is “confident” the U.S.-led coalition will prevail, adding that the militant group is losing ground and its leaders have no place to hide.

“Our message to them is simple: 'You are next,'” he said in a strongly worded statement at the Pentagon after meeting on Monday with his national security team on the latest efforts to counter Islamic State.

The president sought to reassure Americans after a deadly attack in San Bernardino, California earlier this month by a married couple believed to have been inspired by Islamic State, and a bloody massacre in Paris by extremists in November.

The U.S. will continue to lead the global coalition in the effort, which Obama said is moving forward “with a great sense of urgency.

Obama announced no change in strategy but said coalition forces will continue to search for and kill terrorist leaders, and train and equip Iraqi forces and some of the opposition fighters in Syria who are battling Islamic State militants.

In addition, the U.S. will keep working to disrupt the group’s recruitment of fighters, finance operations and propaganda campaigns.

Finally, Obama said, the U.S. will keep up diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the civil war in Syria and bring about a political transition so the coalition can keep its focus on destroying the Islamic State group.