As the US-led coalition continues to hit ISIL targets in Iraq and Syria, the Obama administration’s strategy against the jihadists is becoming ever
As the US-led coalition continues to hit ISIL targets in Iraq and Syria, the Obama administration’s strategy against the jihadists is becoming ever more unpopular.
Recent polls suggest that 63% of Americans believe that Obama is not doing enough to beat the terrorist group but a huge majority also do not want further US military involvement.
In order to find solutions, the Atlantic Council, a leading Washington-based think tank, has launched its Middle East Strategy Task Force, co-chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and President George W. Bush’s National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley.
The Task Force is a bipartisan initiative to try to better understand the underlying dynamics behind the current crises in the Middle East beyond the fight against ISIL and to develop a long-term framework for US policy in the region.
“This region is important to us”, Hadley told euronews. “It implicates major US national security interest and we need to be engaged, engaged in the right way, listening to the voices of the region, supporting their aspirations for their future, but being engaged.”
Francis Riccardione the Atlantic Council Vice President added:
“ISIS has to be confronted. They are a violent, criminal gang and movement. Force needs to be applied. But a whole of government approach has to be there, working with stakeholders in the region. We need to build where they (ISIL) are destroying.”