At a gathering in Washington defense ministers from more than 30 countries in the US-led anti-Islamic State (ISIS) coalition on Wednesday vowed to oust that group from its main strongholds, Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria, and afflict a “lasting defeat” against it.
“In January this year, we updated our comprehensive coalition military campaign plan … and we’ve pursued a number of deliberate decisions and actions to accelerate this plan and hasten ISIL’s [ISIS] lasting defeat,” Carter told his coalition counterparts.
Since that time, “in play after play, town after town, from every direction and in every domain, our campaign has accelerated further, squeezing ISIL and rolling it back toward Raqqa and Mosul. By isolating these two cities, we’re effectively setting the stage to collapse ISIL’s control over them.”
The US provides air support and training to the Iraqi Army and Kurdish forces in both Iraq and Syria, which have afflicted substantial territorial setbacks against ISIS this year.
US Army General Joseph Votel, the head of US Central Command, was also present at the meeting. Speaking at a news conference with Carter he said that, “With respect to Mosul, we shouldn’t underestimate the amount of preparation necessary to take on an operation like that.”
Furthermore the Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders wasn’t so optimistic about an imminent ISIS defeat.
“We are nowhere near the defeat of Daesh [ISIS]. It’s an octopus, it’s a snake with many heads.”
Carter visited Iraq last week where he met Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Defense Minister Khaled Obeidi shortly after US President Barack Obama decided to send another 560 US troops to support the Iraqi military’s ongoing offensive to retake Mosul.
Wednesday's meeting took place at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington, Thursday's meeting (which also includes defense ministers) will take place in the State Department.
