US calls for international coalition to ''destroy'' IS - Lead

NEWPORT - The United States on Friday called for the creation of a broad international coalition against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria by the time of the UN General Assembly this month.

"There is no time to waste in building a broad international coalition to degrade and, ultimately, to destroy the threat posed by ISIL," Secretary of State John Kerry and Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a joint statement.

Britain and the United States chaired talks with defence and foreign ministers from eight other allies: Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Turkey.

The statement said the formation of a new Iraqi government would be critical and added the US was hopeful this could happen "over the coming days".

"We discussed in detail how NATO allies can extend immediate support to a new government," it said.

It listed some of the measures as offering military support to the Iraqi government; stopping the flow of foreign jihadist fighters; taking action against IS funding; addressing the humanitarian crisis; and "de-legitimising" IS ideology.

"We will form a multinational task force to share more information about the flow of foreign fighters," it said, after an extremist speaking with a British accent was shown beheading two US kidnapped journalists and threatening a British hostage.

In a transcript released by US officials of Kerry's comments at the meeting, the diplomat said: "We must be able to have a plan together by the time we come to UNGA (UN General Assembly)" later this month."

"They're not as organised as everybody thinks," he said, referring to IS. "And we have the technology, we have the know-how. What we need is obviously the willpower to make certain that we are steady and stay at this."

"We need to attack them in ways that prevent them from taking over territory, that bolster the Iraqi security forces, others in the region who are prepared to take them on, without committing troops of our own," he said.

AFP
 

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