A draft of President Trump’s new counterterrorism strategy stresses the administration needs ally nations to help the U.S. fight terrorism. The plan makes no mention of “radical Islamic terrorism,” a hallmark of his campaign.
The 11-page report says the terrorist groups “have merged under a global jihadist ideology that seeks to establish a transnational Islamic caliphate that fosters conflict on a global scale.”
While campaigning for president, Trump had insisted that the enemy – the Islamic State – must be called out by its full name in order for the U.S. to know its enemy.
The document does state the U.S. should avoid “open-ended” military commitments and admits ending terrorism once and for all is impossible.
“We need to intensify operations against global jihadist groups while also reducing the costs of American ‘blood and treasure’ in pursuit of our counterterrorism goals,” the document states, according to a Reuters report released Friday evening.
“We will seek to avoid costly, large-scale U.S. military interventions to achieve counterterrorism objectives and will increasingly look to partners to share the responsibility for countering terrorist groups.”
