Turkey 'Can Do More' in Anti-IS Fight, Says Carter
U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Turkey "can do more" in the fight against the Islamic State group, particularly by tightening its border to stop the flow of resources and foreign fighters.
"Turkey occupies a key position in the coalition -- it is hosting aircraft and making other contributions," Carter told reporters in Paris, where he has been meeting defense ministers from several countries involved in the anti-IS coalition.
"I do believe that Turkey can do more, and therefore the kind of campaign plan I was discussing with other ministers... would very, very much benefit from a stronger effort by Turkey," he added.
He said the priority for Turkey, a NATO member, was gaining greater control over its "long and difficult border" with Iraq and Syria.
"The Turkish border is a place where ISIL fighters have gone back and forth, logistics and supplies for ISIL have been furnished," said Carter, using an alternative name for IS.
"Just as I am asking everybody else in the coalition to step up and do more... just as the U.S. military is doing more, so we would like to see Turkey to do more also."
U.S. special forces are directly engaged in pinpointing targets and launching raids against the IS in Syria and Iraq, Carter later added.
"These forces have already established contact with new forces that share our goals, (opening) new lines of communication to local, motivated and capable fighters, and new targets for air strikes and strikes of all kinds," Carter told an audience at the Ecole Militaire, a training school for French officers in Paris.
The U.S. has called on allies, including France and Britain, to contribute special forces as a key part of their effort to bolster coalition forces fighting the jihadist group.
None provide precise figures on how many of their special forces are operating in the region, but it has become increasingly clear that elite Western troops are providing more than training, and shifting towards more of a frontline role.
In Iraq, "we now have a specialized expeditionary targeting force in place that is preparing to work with the Iraqis to begin mounting sudden, long-range raids, going after ISIL's fighters and commanders, killing or capturing them wherever we find them, along with other key targets," Carter said.
Source: Agence France Presse
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