President Barack Obama has picked retired Marine General John Allen, the former top US commander in Afghanistan, to coordinate the international effort to battle ISIS militants in Iraq and Syria that is said to have the broad support of about 40 countries so far.
As “Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition against ISIl”, General Allen “will help continue to build, coordinate, and sustain a global coalition across multiple lines of efforts to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIl”.
He will work closely with the Pentagon to match campaign requirements and coalition needs with potential contributors providing high-level diplomatic support to coordinate a global coalition that delivers tangible results, State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf said.The announcement of General Allen’s appointment came on a day when the Obama administration finally resolved the semantic row over the battle against the Islamic State militants.
Given Obama’s carefully-built image as an anti-war president, top officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry and National Security Advisor Susan Rice, strenuously described the upcoming military engagement as a “sustained counterterrorism operation” and not “a war” as portrayed by the media.
However, the mounting criticism by commentators, prompted the White House to concede that it is indeed a war, with spokesman Josh Earnest saying on Friday: “The United States is at war with ISIl in the same way that we are at war with Al Qaeda and its Al Qaeda affiliates all around the globe”.
President Obama, meanwhile, has stoutly defended his decision not to deploy ground troops, but wage the battle against ISIS from air and relying on Iraqi and Kurdish forces and moderate Syrian rebel groups for the ground operations.
“To meet a threat like this, we have to be smart. We have to use our power wisely. And we have to avoid the mistakes of the past,” Obama said in his weekly radio address on Saturday, adding: “American military power is unmatched, but this can’t be America’s fight alone. And the best way to defeat a group like ISIl isn’t by sending large numbers of American combat forces to wage a ground war in the heart of the Middle East. That wouldn’t serve our interests. In fact, it would only risk fueling extremism even more.”
“What’s needed now is a targeted, relentless counterterrorism campaign against ISIl that combines American air power, contributions from allies and partners, and more support to forces that are fighting these terrorists on the ground. And that’s exactly what we’re doing,” he said.
Without indicating how soon the US would launch the operations in Syria, Obama said: “We’re moving ahead with our campaign of airstrikes against these terrorists, and we’re prepared to take action against ISIl in Syria as well.”
The administration is also reported to be working with Congress to expand the efforts to train and equip the Syrian opposition.