Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said allied countries in the Middle East should increase their efforts to defeat the Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria, Defense News reported Monday.
“Now I’m hoping, and believe, that if we show them what they can do and what they can accomplish, that they will do more… [because] they are better suited culturally and historically to deal with some of these complicated situations than we are,” Carter said, according to the report.
Joe Gould writes Carter said the U.S. plans to share with allies in the Gulf countries the operations plan on how to defeat the Islamic State organization and that he believes the allies could play a role in police training, logistics and sustainment efforts.
The defense chief also briefed the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division on the operations plan as the division prepares for deployment in Iraq.
Carter is scheduled to visit Brussels in February to discuss the efforts of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group with 27 defense ministers from coalition member countries, Gould reports.
