World leaders arriving in Washington next week for the Nuclear Security Summit will use the opportunity to also review their strategy in dealing with the challenge posed by ISIS against the grim backdrop of the attacks in Brussels this week.
Indicating this in his weekly radio address, President Barack Obama, who is hosting the biannual nuclear summit, said: “We’ll use that opportunity to also review our joint efforts against ISIl, and to make sure the world remains united in this effort to protect our people.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif are among the world leaders slated to participate in the two-day summit, beginning March 31.
“ISIl poses a threat to the entire civilized world. That’s why we’ve been leading a truly global coalition that will be vital to our success,” Obama said as he reflected on the terrorist attacks in Brussels that have claimed the lives of more than 30 people, including two Americans.
Stressing that defeating ISIS “remains our top military, intelligence and national security priority”, Obama spoke of the relentless air campaign that supports ground forces in Iraq and Syria and has helped to take back about 40 per cent of the populated territory from ISIS.
“We’re supporting Iraqi Security Forces who are beginning to put pressure on the ISIl stronghold of Mosul. And we will not stop until ISIl’s safe-havens are destroyed,” he said.
Referring to Secretary of State John Kerry’s current mission of leading an international effort to bring the Syrian civil war to an end, Obama termed the effort “a critical piece of restoring stability to that war-torn part of the world”.
Obama mounted an oblique attack on Republican front-runner Donald Trump, saying: “In that effort (to defeat ISIS), our most important partners are American Muslims. That’s why we have to reject any attempt to stigmatize Muslim-Americans, and their enormous contributions to our country and our way of life.”