(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The United States does not have a plan that can defeat ISIL because "we do not really have a sensible, serious strategy," said Senior Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations Elliot Abrams.
"Syria and Iraq now are one theater because ISIL obliterated the border. So we don't have a Syria policy. We don't really have an Iraq policy," asserted Abrams, during a hearing to the US Congress on its policy in Syria and Iraq, held late on Thursday.
Moroever, Abrams cited the Peshmerga's difficulty in dealing with ISIL and that the arms it has today are leftover from the former Iraqi Army. He also stressed that "If our goal is to limit Iranian influence and defeat ISIL, strengthening the Peshmerga is the logical step, and we should take it".
In Syria, Abrams advised that "We don't seem to have any answer at all to the question who's going to fight ISIL unless the answer is the Assad regime and Iran and Hezbollah. We have been very, very slow to help turn the rebels into an effective fighting force".
Senior Advisor at the Middle East Institute for Peace Dr. Steven Heydemann, on his part, testified putting emphasis on the train-and-equip program as an important piece of strategy. This plan has also been an option that Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has promised to roll out as part of US operations.
The highly respected former Ambassador to Syria. Robert Ford, then gave his recommendations to the US Congress on the next steps that should be taken to secure Iraq and Syria. "Number one, move forward on an authorization to use military force", he asserted and noted that it would send a message to the Russians, Iranians, and make Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad "nervous". Ford then pressed the Congress to reauthorize use of American funding to train vetted elements of the moderate Syrian opposition.
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