Barack Obama: United States not losing fight against Islamic State

Washington, May 22: President Barack Obama said in an interview published Thursday that the US is not losing the fight against the Islamic State radical group in Iraq and Syria, but he acknowledged that it will be necessary to intensify the training of Sunni militias in some zones to support Iraqi military forces.“I don’t think we’re losing. There’s no doubt there was a tactical setback, although Ramadi had been vulnerable for a very long time,” Obama said in an interview with news magazine The Atlantic, a few days after the Iraqi city of Ramadi was overrun by IS fighters.Obama blamed the IS capture of Ramadi, the capital of Al Anbar province, on the lack of training and reinforcement of Iraq’s security forces.“They have been there essentially for a year without sufficient reinforcements,” he said, adding that “it is indicative that the training of Iraqi security forces, the fortifications, the command-and-control systems are not happening fast enough in Anbar, in the Sunni parts of the country”. He also admitted that it is necessary to do a better job in enlisting Sunni tribesmen in Al Anbar province to fight against the IS, something the Shia-headed national government has not been doing.