		<div class="wpcnt">
			<div class="wpa">
				<span class="wpa-about">Advertisements</span>
				<div class="u top_amp">
							<amp-ad width="300" height="265"
		 type="pubmine"
		 data-siteid="111265417"
		 data-section="1">
		</amp-ad>
				</div>
			</div>
		</div><p>President Barack Obama said the fight he has led against Islamic State has been relentless, sustainable and multilateral.</p>
<p>Speaking at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, in his last major national security speech before leaving office, Mr Obama said the action demonstrates a shift in how the US takes on terrorists around the world.</p>
<p>He noted that he is poised to become the first president to serve two full terms at war, and defended a counter-terrorism strategy that has relied on US special forces and local groups rather than large-scale American ground forces.</p>
<p>The US has built a <i>&#8220;network of partners&#8221;</i> to help fight extremists and it is <i>&#8220;breaking the back&#8221;</i> of IS, he said.</p>
<p>His speech at the home of US Special Operations Command came as allies and foes alike await a potentially dramatic shift in American strategy towards addressing extremist threats overseas after Donald Trump takes office.</p>
<p>Before taking to the stage for his speech, Mr Obama told about 250 US service members gathered in a gym that it had been the privilege of his lifetime to serve as their commander-in-chief.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;I have been consistently in awe of your performance and the way you carried out your missions,&#8221;</i> Mr Obama said.</p>
<p>For the outgoing president, who came into office telling a war-weary nation he would wind down two wars and prevent new ones, the inclination towards smaller-scale, limited military involvement was a natural extension of his foreign policy philosophy. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Mr Obama had believed that large troop presences in Iraq and Afghanistan were unsustainable.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;The strategy that President Obama has put in place is more effective, it keeps us safe, it has fewer American men and women in harm&#8217;s way, and it costs American taxpayers a lot less,&#8221;</i> Mr Earnest said.</p>
<p>But Mr Obama&#8217;s approach has most notably come up short in Syria, where he long ago predicted that US-backed forces would eventually prevail over Syrian president Bashar Assad. But Assad&#8217;s grip on power appears stronger than it has in years while the brutal civil war continues to rage.</p>
<figure id="attachment_97595" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-97595" style="width: 600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/1475418510-4dde76391742d84e9b76a73970867027-1038x576.jpg"><img src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/1475418510-4dde76391742d84e9b76a73970867027-1038x576.jpg" alt="President-Elect Donald Trump" width="600" height="333" class="size-full wp-image-97595" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-97595" class="wp-caption-text">President-Elect Donald Trump</figcaption></figure>
<p>Mr Trump has said little about how he intends to shift course in Syria and whether he would continue Mr Obama&#8217;s strategy in other regions destabilised by extremist groups. He has argued that ambiguity and unpredictability are assets that deny the enemy a chance to plan ahead.</p>
<p>Still, all signs suggest he will pursue a more muscular, military-driven approach to extremist groups like the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.</p>
<p>Mr Trump has argued that Mr Obama&#8217;s decision to withdraw the bulk of troops from Iraq, rather than negotiating harder with Baghdad to leave some there, created a power vacuum that allowed IS to form and seize territory.</p>
<p>During the presidential campaign, he said he would listen to top military officers about the need for ground troops to fight IS, at one point floating a figure of 20,000 to 30,000. Meanwhile, he has suggested that ousting Assad is not a top priority and that closer alignment between the US and Russia, which backs Assad, would be positive.</p>
<p>In the absence of more details from Mr Trump, attention has turned to the advisers he has selected to form his team, including retired General Michael T Flynn, tapped for national security adviser.</p>
<p>Gen Flynn, who has attracted controversy over his comments critical of Islam, has urged a far more aggressive military campaign against IS.</p>
<p>Mr Obama was promoting the benefits of his more limited approach on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Under his leadership, the number of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has dropped from roughly 180,000 to 15,000 today, according to deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the US has been able to take out key al-Qaida leaders, most notably Obama bin Laden, and has started edging the Islamic State group out of strongholds like Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria.</p>
			<div style="padding-bottom:15px;" class="wordads-tag" data-slot-type="belowpost">
				<div id="atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68eced459410c">
					<script type="text/javascript">
						window.getAdSnippetCallback = function () {
							if ( false === ( window.isWatlV1 ?? false ) ) {
								// Use Aditude scripts.
								window.tudeMappings = window.tudeMappings || [];
								window.tudeMappings.push( {
									divId: 'atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68eced459410c',
									format: 'belowpost',
								} );
							}
						}

						if ( document.readyState === 'loading' ) {
							document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', window.getAdSnippetCallback );
						} else {
							window.getAdSnippetCallback();
						}
					</script>
				</div>
			</div>
Discover more from London Glossy Post
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
