Getty War Room Ash Carter: It’s Time to Accelerate the ISIL Fight

Ash Carter is the U.S. Secretary of Defense.

The storied 101st Airborne Division will soon deploy 1,800 troops to Iraq to aid in the fight against ISIL. They will head there with the support of the American people and armed with a clear campaign plan to help our allies deliver the barbaric organization a lasting defeat, which I personally shared with them last week at Fort Campbell. I also traveled to U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida, where I discussed the plan’s implementation with our top commanders. And this week I visited Paris, a city of determination and resolve, to discuss the plan with our allies.

In Paris, French Minister of Defense Jean-Yves Le Drian and I co-hosted our counterparts from Australia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Britain. Those countries have been the biggest contributors to the counter-ISIL campaign. The military actions that the United States and our partners have taken in recent months have applied unprecedented pressure on ISIL in Iraq and Syria. In recent weeks, ISIL has lost territory, lost key leaders and even lost some of its cash and oil. We are gathering momentum on a number of fronts and are determined to put ISIL on an irreversible path to lasting defeat. Now is the time to do even more.


ISIL is a cancer that threatens to spread. And like all cancers, you can’t cure the disease just by cutting out the tumor. You have to eliminate it wherever it has spread, and stop it from coming back. The coalition military campaign plan the United States has developed, and which our key allies support, focuses on three military objectives: One, destroy the ISIL parent tumor in Iraq and Syria by collapsing its two power centers in Mosul, Iraq and Raqqah, Syria. These cities constitute ISIL’s military, political, economic and ideological centers of gravity, which is why our plan has big arrows pointing toward both. Two, combat the emerging metastases of the ISIL tumor worldwide wherever it appears. Three, our most important mission: Protect the homeland.

To eliminate the parent tumor in Iraq and Syria, we are enabling local, motivated forces with critical support from a global coalition wielding a suite of capabilities—ranging from airstrikes, special forces, cyber tools, intelligence, equipment, mobility and logistics, training, advice and assistance. It must be local forces who deliver ISIL a lasting defeat, because only they can secure and govern the territory by building long-term trust within the populations they liberate. We can and will enable such local forces, but we cannot substitute for them.

For example, it was Iraqi soldiers who took back the Ramadi city center last month, reversing a loss the Iraqi army suffered last spring. Our support to them included advanced training, tactics, air support and the portable bridges that carried the Iraqi military across the Euphrates River and into the decisive fight. Ramadi, like recent Iraqi gains in Bayji, Tikrit and Sinjar all demonstrate the approach we are taking is having an effect as Iraqis prepare for what will be a tough fight for Mosul.

As we work to destroy the parent tumor in Iraq and Syria, we must also recognize that ISIL is metastasizing in areas such as North Africa, Afghanistan and Yemen. This requires a flexible and nimble response with a broad reach. We have organized U.S. military personnel at key locations stretching from Southern Europe and East Africa across the Middle East to Afghanistan as a network to counter transnational and transregional threats like ISIL. We put this approach to the test in November when U.S. assets from multiple regions converged to kill ISIL’s top leader in Libya. We are now prepared to step up pressure on ISIL in Afghanistan to check their ambitions there as well.

As we accelerate our campaign, so must every one of our coalition partners. That’s why this week’s meeting was so important, and it’s why in three weeks we will meet again in Brussels, this time with the defense ministers from all 26 counter-ISIL military coalition nations plus Iraq. Every nation must come prepared to discuss further contributions to the fight. Since no country is immune from an ISIL attack, no country can afford to ride free.

And as we destroy the parent tumor and disrupt its metastases, we are constantly mindful of our most important mission—protecting the homeland. Beyond our shores we are using all appropriate means at our disposal to disrupt potential attacks and hold accountable those who would do harm to American citizens at home and abroad by killing ISIL members that have killed our citizens. Within our borders, the Department of Defense has a supporting but active role to play assisting law enforcement, homeland security, cyber defense, intelligence and more. And I will continue to ensure we are doing everything we can to prevent an attack, including against our military facilities around the world.

Our campaign to deliver ISIL a lasting defeat, at its source and wherever it rears its head, is far from over; but the outcome is clear. We will continue to adapt and build on our success, as ISIL’s territory decreases, its resources dwindle, and local, capable forces gain the capacity both to win the field of battle and to lay the foundation for lasting security in the region, and a more secure future for the world.

Portions of this article were delivered as a speech at Fort Campbell on January 13, 2016.

This article has been updated.