US Defense Secretary Ash Carter expressed confidence Thursday that under the Trump administration the US will remain central to the international coalition fighting Daesh in Iraq and Syria.
“While I cannot speak for the next administration, I am confident that based on the results we are seeing and the strength of our coalition, the United States and its military will continue to be with you as a leading partner in this campaign,” Carter said, in kicking off his final war-planning conference with core members of the coalition.
The meeting got underway against the backdrop of questions about what Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House next month will mean for the future of the coalition.
Closing out a nearly two-week overseas trip that included a stop in Iraq, Carter was meeting with his counterparts from 14 nations. They were to receive an update from Army Gen. Joseph Votel on the battles to retake Mosul, Daesh’s key stronghold in Iraq, and Raqqa, the self-declared Daesh capital in Syria. As head of US Central Command, Votel is the top officer overseeing the counter-Daesh campaign in Syria and Iraq.
The defense officials also were to discuss doing more to train and equip the kinds of local Iraq and Syrian forces, including police and tribal fighters, that will be needed to hold Mosul and Raqqa once, as expected, Daesh is uprooted from those cities. The terrorist organization has held those centers for more than two years.
In his introductory remarks, Carter said the coalition must remain involved in Iraq even after Daesh is driven from Mosul.
“We will need to continue to counter not only foreign fighters trying to escape, but also Daesh’s attempts to relocate or reinvent itself,” he said, according to his prepared remarks. “To do so, both the United States and the coalition must remain engaged militarily. In Iraq in particular, we must be prepared to provide sustained assistance to the Iraqi security forces to consolidate security over the rest of the country.”
Among the questions Carter cannot answer: Will Trump withdraw support for US-backed opposition groups in Syria, who have now lost the city of Aleppo? And if he does, will he join forces with Russia? How might such moves affect public support for the anti-Daesh coalition in Germany and elsewhere?
Carter has held five other counter-Daesh conferences with coalition partners. The other countries represented, in addition to the US, are Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, Norway, Spain and Turkey.
At nearly every stop on his current round-the-world tour, Carter has met with US troops and assured them that the counter-Daesh campaigns are going according to plan.

Source: Arab News