U.S. presses allies to keep up Islamic State fight

The Trump administration is pressing U.S. allies to boost funding for the global fight against Islamic State, saying Iraq still needs help in battling the terror group’s still-potent remnants even as U.S. forces pull back from front-line positions.

The plea from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — during a virtual summit of the counter-Islamic State coalition that the U.S. and Italy co-hosted Thursday — came as the world economy grapples with financial fallout from the coronavirus pandemic that has infected more than 6.5 million people and killed nearly 387,000 around the world.

“It’s true that the pandemic is putting enormous pressure on all of our budgets, but we urge your nations to pledge toward our goal of more than $700 million for 2020,” Mr. Pompeo told representatives of 31 other nations attending the virtual gathering.

Amid reports Islamic State has been able to regroup in the sparse lands along the Syria-Iraq border, Mr. Pompeo said Iraq and its allies still must root out the terror group’s surviving cells and network and “provide stabilization assistance to liberated areas in Iraq and Syria.”

A joint communique from the summit noted that, “while [Islamic State] no longer controls territory and nearly eight million people have been freed from its control in Iraq and Syria, the threat remains and thus calls for stronger vigilance and coordinated action.”

“This includes allocating adequate resources to sustain Coalition and legitimate partner forces’ efforts against [Islamic State] in Iraq and Syria, including stabilization support to liberated areas, to safeguard our collective security interests,” the communique said.

While Mr. Pompeo told the gathering that the Trump administration will provide the $100 million it pledged to support Iraq against a potential Islamic State resurgence last year, his remarks Thursday came roughly two months after American troops began pulling back from and handing over several key bases in Iraq to Iraqi security forces.

President Trump has also markedly reduced the size of the anti-Islamic State U.S. special forces contingent posted in Syria.

In late March, U.S. commanders in Iraq said coalition forces in Iraq, including about 5,000 U.S. troops, were being consolidated in and around Baghdad as part of pre-planned movements set in motion by what they said was the coalition’s success in breaking the Islamic State’s hold on territory.

The statement denied claims that had swirled in some media at the time that the troops were being pulled back in response to increasing threats posed by Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militia groups.

With Mr. Trump pushing to come through on a major campaign promise to bring U.S. troops home from “forever wars,” the overall status of U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq has come under question since the October 2019 death in Iraq of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

Al-Baghdadi was killed after detonating a suicide vest while being pursued by U.S. forces. The Trump administration has since repeatedly declared the Islamic State caliphate defeated, despite warnings from analysts and former officials that the terror group remains a threat in the Middle East and globally, with offshoots and affiliates still carrying out attacks from Africa to Asia.

Several violent attacks claimed by the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan during recent months have threatened to undermine the Trump administration’s push for a historic peace deal and U.S. troop withdrawal there.

Analysts have also warned that jihadists and other militant extremists have sought to exploit the coronavirus world health crisis. Islamic State propaganda has surfaced in recent months calling on followers to increase attacks as world governments and militaries focus on combating the COVID-19 pandemic.