In a significant change of strategy, the United States has announced that it is going to deploy "boots on the ground" soon to assist local forces in fighting the extremist group Islamic State (ISIS).
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter made the announcement during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Friday, stating that the U.S. will initially dispatch the 101st Airborne Division to Iraq.
"We're looking for opportunities to do more and there will be boots on the ground and I want to be clear about that," Carter told CNBC.
The United States has previously ruled out sending large contingents of ground troops to Iraq and Syria.
"But it's a strategic question whether you are enabling local forces to take and hold rather than trying to substitute for them. That is a strategic intention that we have," Carter said.
In the wake of continued fighting in war-torn Syria and the escalating war in Iraq, the U.S-led coalition is being encouraged to "do more'' in order to defeat the ISIS. Specifically, Carter said ISIS needs to be defeated in Mosul and its home base in Raqqa, Syria.
He said the deployment of the 101st Airborne Division to Iraq will aid local forces take out the the ISIS militants.
When the war in Iraq started in August last year, U.S. President Barack Obama announced "limited'' "humanitarian'' airstrikes to protect an ethnic minority from ISIS fighters in Sinjar Mountain in Iraqi Kurdistan, according to reports.
Carter said he is set to meet with defence ministers of coalition members in two weeks and will press them to do more and play a bigger role in the fight against ISIS.
He also said the U.S. would remain focused on advising and assisting Iraqi and Syrian Arab forces to take and hold territory.
"To eliminate the parent tumor in Iraq and Syria, we are enabling local, motivated forces with critical support from a global coalition wielding a suite of capabilities—ranging from airstrikes, special forces, cyber tools, intelligence, equipment, mobility and logistics, training, advice and assistance," Carter said in an article published in Politico on Friday.
"It must be local forces who deliver (ISIS) a lasting defeat, because only they can secure and govern the territory by building long-term trust within the populations they liberate," he said.
