Pentagon Head to US Congress: Turkey’s Ops not Directed at ’ISIS’

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The US said Turkey's operations are not "directed" at "ISIS" and the Pentagon would like Ankara "to do more" both in the air and on the ground. It had also failed to control its borders "effectively," War Secretary Ash Carter told Congress.

"I have been urging, actually, since I've come to this job, Turkey to do more," the US War chief said.
Carter stressed that Turkey's geography - "right there next to Iraq and Syria" - makes it an especially useful asset to the US-led mission against "ISIS", but its NATO ally failed to pull its weight so far.

"Most of their air operations are not directed at "ISIS"," Carter said. "They are directed at the PKK, which we understand their concern about - it's a terrorist organization within their borders - but we would like to see them do more against "ISIS"."

The Pentagon wants Turkey to focus primarily on "its own territories," i.e. go after "tentacles of "ISIS"" in Turkish territory and better control its borders with Syria, "which it has not done effectively since ISIS arose," according to Carter's testimony.

"We would like them to operate more both in the air and on the ground," the War Secretary said.

In mid-November, the US and Turkey "entered an operation" to entirely close off the border of northern Syria, the territory long contested between Kurdish fighters and "ISIS" militants. The agreement came not long after Ankara declared its plans to "act militarily" against "ISIS".

Even earlier, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan had stated that he would "do what is necessary," including using force, to combat the Kurdish "mindset" of autonomy in Syria.

Since beginning its military operations, Turkey had been accused of targeting Kurdish fighters that are fighting "ISIS" but also aligned with Turkish Kurds against the Turkish government.

The Kurds have also been involved in the fight against "ISIS" in Iraq, where in November they launched an offensive to retake Iraq's northern city of Sinjar, which had been controlled by "ISIS" for over a year.

The operation, dubbed Free Sinjar, included the Turkey-based Kurdish Workers' Party [PKK], among several other factions.

In his Tuesday testimony, Carter also announced the deployment of Special Forces to Syria to "conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence, and capture "ISIS" leaders."

"That creates a virtuous cycle of better intelligence, which generates more targets, more raids, and more momentum," he added.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team