US coalition to fight Islamic State
6 Sep ALJAZEERA
The US has announced that Nato allies have agreed to form a coalition
to fight the Islamic State, with Barack Obama stating the group's
“savage nihilism” must be confronted.
The US president said on Friday that the US and its key allies would
be mount a sustained effort to push back the group, formerly known as
ISIL, which he said posed a significant threat to Nato countries.There
would also be efforts to include Middle Eastern nations in the
coalition, a concerted effort to cut the group's funding, and help those
groups which reject the “nihilism” it has spread through Syria and Iraq.
The announcement was made at the conclusion of a Nato summit in
Wales, after high-level talks to agree a plan by the time the UN general
assembly meets this month.The coalition comprises the US, the UK,
France, Australia, Germany, Canada, Turkey, Italy, Poland and
Denmark.Obama said it would stand ready “to confront this terrorist
threat with military, intelligence, law enforcement as well as
diplomatic efforts”.I did not get any resistance or push back to the
basic notion that we have a critical role to play in rolling back this
savage organisation that is causing so much chaos in the region and is
harming so many people and poses a long-term threat to the safety and
security of Nato members,'’ he said.
“So there's great conviction that we have to act, as part of the
international community, to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL, and
that was extremely encouraging.'’ Laying out a strategy for Iraq, Obama
hinted at a broader military campaign, likening it to the way US forces
pushed back al-Qaeda along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, taking
out the group's leadership and shrinking the areas it controlled.In
Syria, he noted that moderate Syrian rebels fighting both the group and
the government of Bashar al-Assad were “outgunned and outmanned” and
needed aid.Obama pressed Arab allies to reject the violent “nihilism'’
projected by the group.
The US secretary of state, John Kerry, will travel to the Middle East
next week, where he expects to expand the coalition beyond Western
nations.Said Obama: “I think it is absolutely critical that we have Arab
states - and specifically Sunni-majority states - that are rejecting the
kind of extremist nihilism that we're seeing out of ISIL,... join us
actively in the fight.''What we can dismantle this network, this force
that has claimed to control this much territory, so that they can't do
us harm,'’ Obama said.
In a meeting with the foreign and defence ministers from the
coalition countries, Kerry said leaders need a clear idea about what
they could contribute. Those not offering military assets could instead
provide intelligence, equipment, ammunition or weapons.
The French president, Francois Hollande, said France was discussing
with allies what type of action might be taken.Georgia, which is not in
Nato but has previously sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq, was quick
to offer its support. |
