Obama's Envoy For Anti-ISIL Coalition In Ankara For Talks

Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) Gen. John Allen is in Ankara to discuss with Turkish authorities deepening cooperation against the militant group amid the increasing deployment of troops and tanks by Turkey at the Turkish-Syrian border.

Allen's visit comes at a delicate moment as the military has bolstered its presence on the Syrian border, leading to expectations of an incursion into Syria despite clear and strong denials by Turkish officials.

The US is pressing for robust action from Ankara against ISIL, while an international coalition keeps targeting ISIL positions in Iraq and northern Syria with air strikes every day.

Allen's visit coincides with a group of Pentagon officials led by US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Christine Wormuth visiting Ankara the same week. When reports of a possible Turkish intervention in Syria proliferated in the media, the US urged for caution, saying there is no need for a safe zone inside Syria. Any attempt to carve out a buffer zone is, US officials last week warned, fraught with tremendous risks and requires sophisticated and challenging logistical tasks.

US official rules out rift with Turkey

US State Department Spokesman John Kirby has dismissed claims of a deepening rift with Turkey over differing approaches to developments playing out in northern Syria, saying Washington and Ankara are on the same page to tackle the ISIL problem.

Commenting on Ankara's concerns over a Kurdish corridor in northern Syria after Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), backed by US air strikes, captured the border crossing of Tel Abyad, Kirby said at a daily press briefing that the US clearly understands Turkey's concerns, rejecting claims of any US attempt to facilitate the creation of a separate zone.

Kirby emphasized that allies do not necessarily have to agree on everything but can still retain a working dialogue and cooperation.

Obama says US to increase support for Syrian opposition

US President Barack Obama pledged to increase US support for the moderate opposition in Syria's civil war on Monday and said the United States needed to do more at home to prevent attacks and combat Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) efforts to recruit followers.

Obama, speaking during a visit to the Pentagon, noted the difficulty of preventing small-scale attacks by "lone wolves" within the US homeland despite success at preventing large attacks since the Sept. 11, 2001 assaults on New York and Washington, D.C.

"We're going to have to pick up our game to prevent these attacks," he said.

Obama said there are no current plans to send additional US troops overseas and repeated that the fight against the militant group also known as ISIL would not be quick.

He also said the US training of Iraqi forces had been ramped up after being too slow.

The US military has lamented that Iraq had not provided enough recruits to meet US training targets. It has also acknowledged that recruiting and training Syrians to fight ISIL was moving more slowly than expected, partly because of problems with vetting volunteers.

"We continue to accelerate the delivery of critical equipment, including anti-tank weapons, to Iraqi security forces," Obama said. "And I have made it clear to my team that we will do more to train and equip the moderate opposition in Syria."

Obama did not give details on what more the United States would do in that regard.

Republicans criticized the president for not having a successful strategy.

"His rhetoric doesn't match reality. Over the last year, ISIL has expanded its reach exponentially -- and the group's influence continues to grow," said Senator Tom Cotton, an Obama critic. "We're not going to defeat a radical jihadist army with more bureaucrats in DC and no funding for our military on the front lines."

Obama said more needed to be done to prevent ISIL from gaining recruits within the United States. US efforts to counter extremism must not single out Muslim Americans or any faith group, but the militant group was targeting its recruitment efforts at that community, Obama said.

"We also have to acknowledge that ISIL has been particularly effective at reaching out to and recruiting vulnerable people around the world, including here in the United States," he said.

Obama's remarks came after US July 4 Independence Day festivities passed without a major attack.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)