Anti-Daesh coalition to commit ground troops

In two weeks, Carter will meet with a broad group of defense ministers where he said he will press those who are in the fight “on paper” but are not doing enough.

The importance of enlisting Iraqi Sunnis in the fight against Islamic extremism was demonstrated during the 2007 George W. Bush administration “surge” of U.S. troops to quell an al-Qaeda-led insurgency that nearly defeated the U.S. That “Anbar Awakening” of Sunni tribesman, who fought and defeated insurgents as part of a “Sons of Iraq” program, has been acknowledged as key to turning the tide of a civil war.

He emphasized the importance of accelerating operations to deliver ISIL a final defeat before it can metastasize around the world and penetrate nations’ homelands.

Coalition airstrikes aided Iraqi security forces in retaking Ramadi last month.

USA and coalition forces are battling Islamic State militants in the skies and on the ground across Iraq and Syria, but the allies are increasingly also targeting the airwaves, where they now are losing the propaganda war.

“Ramadi gives him opportunity to do more”, Mr. Carter said.

“One month of training in the eyes of the Iraqis made a significant difference… and they are very eager to get additional assistance in the training of the police forces”, the official said.

This contingent also includes “special operations forces of the sort that we don’t talk about a lot, but that we’ve introduced in a number of different ways”, Carter told reporters traveling with him to Europe.

“They’re on the list…it’s not a small list, of countries that I think could make contributions that are distinctive, unique and necessary to the defeat of ISIL”, he added, using an alternative acronym for the IS group.

A long list of global concerns keeps him up at night, Carter said.

Around 22,000 jihadists have been killed by the US-led coalition fighting the ISIS group since mid-2014, France’s own defense minister said on Thursday. “I wish it weren’t so”, he said.

The U.S. military has contributed to peace and stability in Asia for 70 years, the secretary said. “We collect valuable intelligence that informs the air campaign – valuable intelligence about how ISIL is preying upon the people, taxing the people and so forth that helps us with our – the economic aspects of our campaign, the counter-financing, the counter-messaging parts of our campaign”, Carter added, using another term for ISIS. “And we need to combat it elsewhere to where it has spread”.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the private conversation publicly. “I can’t do [it] without Homeland Security, law enforcement [and] our border security”.