USA defense chief Ash Carter said Thursday that the 200 American commandos now in Iraq and Syria are carrying out raids on Islamic State targets, “killing or capturing them wherever we find them”.
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“Turkey is a long-time friend of ours”, he said during a Davos question-and-answer session.
From Paris, Carter will head to the World Economic Forum in Davos, where this year’s theme “is the idea of the fourth industrial revolution, and how automation is combining with advances in manufacturing in big data to transform industries around the globe”, a topic close to Carter’s heart, the senior US official said. “I’m confident we will, but I want to accelerate that process”.
“The Turkish border is a place where ISIS fighters have gone back and forth, logistics and supplies for ISIS have been furnished”, said Carter, using an alternative name for ISIL.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss publicly the private conversation. “At the moment, around 98 kilometers [61 miles] of our border appear to be under Daesh [an Arabic term for Islamic State] control”, he added.
PARIS, France-US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday said the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group would be “very seriously” weakened in Syria and Iraq this year, as France announced that some 22,000 jihadists have been killed by the US-led coalition.
But as offensives by Iraqi troops reclaim territory from the radical group, the Islamic State is losing its ability to conscript fighters from areas it had controlled, which had been the major source of new troops.
Officials said a key focus would be finding ways to increase contributions from other nations outside the “core contributors” to the coalition effort. “We take that as a positive indicator that we’re starting to hit them where it hurts”.
Le Drian and Carter both said military cooperation with Russia was impossible as long as Russian planes were attacking Syrian rebel groups that are opposed to the Islamic State.
Washington has accused Turkey and other US-led coalition members of not doing enough to fight Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
“The president has indicated wherever there’s additional opportunity to make a difference, according to the strategy, we’d be willing to do that”, Carter said.
Some of those militants have joined the Daesh group. And while he’s grateful for Turkey hosting a base for USA aircraft, he said, Turkey must do more, based on its pivotal position bordering Iraq and Syria.
Under previous rules, the US military was able to conduct airstrikes in Afghanistan in three circumstances: to protect foreign forces; to help Afghan troops ward off an enemy onslaught; and to target al-Qaida and affiliated militants.
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“Most of us are expecting that the government will come to Parliament and come to the people of New Zealand and justify an expansion of the operation…and deployment of more troops and so, with that in mind, yes we do need some truth”.
