driving them out of Iraq and Syria, how long will that take? We’re trying to defeat ISIL so they cannot pose a threat to the American people or our allies. The military piece of that has two parts. We’re denying the enemy sanctuary or the ability to establish a caliphate in Iraq, Syria, and Libya or elsewhere. And we’re growing the ability of local se- curity forces to deny those sanctuar- ies on an enduring basis. The solution is tailored by location.
In Iraq, we’re working with a partner government that provided us access to help enable it to establish the secu- rity and stability, within which ISIL will not fi nd itself welcome. In Syria, we’re going to put enough pressure on ISIL, as political transition occurs in that nation, so we have leverage to keep ISIL on the run and work to- ward defeating them. So our actions on the ground will inform results of the long-term political solution. Turning to Libya, that’s a pretty
complex place with an emerging government and a national accord recently agreed upon in the United Nations. That accord will bring to- gether the two major parties. We will work with the new emerging govern- ment to help enable their forces to provide security and make sure Libya is not hospitable to ISIL. We’ll take whatever actions we can unilaterally to make sure the homeland is safe. That means counterterrorism strikes as we look toward building partner- ship capacity in Libya. So each location where ISIL is
located requires a diff erent solu- tion. At the end of the day, we want to make sure they don’t have ground to establish a caliphate. We want to undermine their narrative and expose ISIL for what it is, es- pecially to young people, and make sure that nations challenged by
PHOTOS: DOD
Dunford, front left, meets with a senior member of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and observes ISF members conducting sniper rifle train- ing (top) during a visit to Baghdad Jan. 7.
Russia is not as helpful as they advertise. Their priority has not been against ISIL.
APRIL 2016 MILITARY OFFICER 55
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92