The Obama administration is abandoning efforts to train Syrian rebel forces to fight Islamic State militants, and switching to a strategy of “equipping and enabling” a select group of “vetted” opposition leaders and units.
“We will monitor the progress these groups make and provide them with air support as they take the fight to ISIL,” a Pentagon statement said. “This focus on equipping and enabling will allow us to reinforce the progress already made in countering ISIL in Syria.”
The statement acknowledged “challenges” in the original $500 million program to train and arm moderate Syrian forces in Syria. The program has produced only a handful of rebels who joined the fight against IS.
“I wasn’t happy with the early efforts of the program,” Carter said Friday. “So we have devised a number of different approaches.”
Carter said the work the United States has done with Kurdish forces in northern Syria is one example of an effective approach.
“That’s exactly the kind of example that we would like to pursue with other groups in other parts of Syria going forward,” Carter said.
Source-VOA
