Kasım İleri
20 July 2016•Update: 20 July 2016
By Kasim Ileri
WASHINGTON
Defense ministers from nearly 30 countries gathered Wednesday at Andrews Joint Air Force Base to discuss the next step against Daesh in Syria and Iraq.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter hosted the event just outside the nation’s capital and discussed the acceleration of the U.S.-led coalition campaign, particularly in Iraq as Iraqi and Kurdish forces are encircling the militant group’s stronghold city of Mosul.
The meeting is the fourth meeting since the anti-Daesh campaign began in August 2014.
“Today, we’ll identify both our enduring and emerging requirements and review our detailed metrics matrix of national contributions – going through it row by row, column and column, and country by country,” Carter said at the opening of the meeting.
He also noted the need to ensure “economic and political campaigns do not lag behind” military operations.
A separate meeting of defense and foreign ministers will be held at the State Department to discuss the political and economic dimensions of campaign against Daesh.
Speaking to reporters following the meeting Carter said he was glad to see representatives from Turkey at the meeting, noting that country’s Defense Minister Fikri Isik could not attend due to the extraordinary situation in Turkey following a failed coup last week.
Carter added that he spoke to Isik via telephone Tuesday and was told his ministry is functioning and the attempted overthrow of the government last weekend would not interrupt Turkey’s support for counter-Daesh efforts.
The American defense chief said he told Isik he “had been concerned for him and that we support the democratically elected government of Turkey.”
He said Ankara has been a “strong ally” of Washington for decades and military-to-military relations between the two countries would continue regardless of what happened in Turkey during the course of the last few days.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the meeting, British Defense Minister Michael Fallon also reiterated Turkey's commitment to the fight against Daesh.
"We see no evidence of Turkey not committing to the fight against Daesh terrorism nor of helping us to close the border with Syria which will help stem the flow of foreign fighters," he said.
