Secretary of State John Kerry called together a group of countries at the NATO summit Friday morning in a previously unscheduled meeting to rally them to become a “coalition of the willing” to confront the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in a systematic way.
“It’s an opportunity to prove that we have the ability to come together, that our capacities for defense are not so frozen in an old model that we can’t response to something like [ISIS],” he told the group of officials gathered in Wales.
“Contrary to what you sort of hear in the politics of our country, President [Obama] is totally committed,” he added. “There is a strategy that is clear, becoming more clear by the day.”
Describing the fight that’s needed against ISIS as “holistic,” he said an international coalition must work to “de-legitimize” the group’s ideology, target its financial mechanisms and sources, including any trade in petroleum products, coordinate between different country’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies, work together to provide humanitarian relief for ISIS victims and economic assistance in helping rebuild Iraq.
When it comes to direct military contributions, he said all countries can help out in some way — either by providing ammunition or weapons or “technical know-how” or intelligence or by sending military advisers like the nearly 850 the U.S. already has deployed to Iraq.
After the meeting, Kerry announced that NATO allies will form a task force to share more information about the flow of foreign fighters into Syria and Iraq.
