President Barack Obama was more specific Wednesday about the administration's strategy for confronting the threat from the Islamic State (ISIS), but there are still major holes in the president's approach to foreign policy in the Middle East, The Washington Post said.
In an editorial Wednesday, the newspaper said that Obama has yet to clarify the specifics of how the United States will develop an international coalition to combat ISIS, who will supply the necessary ground troops, and what role the United States will play to defeat the terrorists.
"The barbaric murder of Steven Sotloff gave Mr. Obama another opportunity to lay out a U.S. strategy for combating an organization that is more powerful and more ambitious than al-Qaeda before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,"
the Post's editorial board wrote.
"Speaking Wednesday in Estonia, the president was slightly stronger and clearer than before. But his strategy — he now insists that one exists — still has some big holes."
The Post acknowledged that "easy answers don't exist," but said the president must be guided by a number of principles. Specifically, that the only way the terrorist threat can be neutralized is to have a comprehensive regional approach encompassing both Syria and Iraq.
"Fostering a representative and non-sectarian government must be the aim in Syria as well as Iraq. But political breakthroughs should not be a precondition for military measures," the Post said, adding that moderate forces in the region must be given "the substantial and sustained support they need to fight their enemies on an equal footing."
"Perhaps most importantly, Mr. Obama should stop attempting to minimize the threats in the Middle East or the U.S. role needed to combat them. Without American leadership in forging political solutions and assaulting the Islamic State's strongholds, any strategy is doomed to fail," the Post concluded.
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