TerrorismThere is no manual on how to defeat ISIS – “we’re writing it”: John Kerry

Speaking Thursday at the opening of a 3-day meeting in Washington, D.C. of thirty countries currently engaged in fighting ISIS, Secretary of States Joh Kerry said, “We are engaged in an historic effort. Nothing like this coalition has ever before been assembled. And we’re not following a manual on antiterrorist coalition-building, we’re writing it.”

The goal of the meeting is to discuss ways not only to defeat ISIS, but how to destroy the organization’s vast network of affiliated groups across the world, groups which have proven themselves savvy in using social media, recruitment, and planning deadly terrorist attacks.

VOA reports that on the eve of the summit, the participating nations have pledged $2.1 billion to help the people of Iraq as they move back into towns and villages from which ISIS has been evicted.

The attendees include the heads of state of France, Finland, Sweden, Canada, Japan, Kuwait, and Australia, U.K.’s new foreign secretary Boris Johnson, and military and intelligence leaders from major Western countries.

Kerry said that the conference will focus on sharing ideas, learning about different situations and challenges facing each country.

Kerry opened the conference on an optimistic note, telling the audience that US airstrikes have pushed ISIS out of nearly half the territory it once occupied in Iraq and out of 20 percent of its territory in Syria, reducing the number of the organization’s fighters by a “third.” 

Kerry likened ISIS to a bacteria or a virus, “resilient” and adaptable to changing conditions. It requires a multi-faceted attack — an attack against its supply lines, its oil facilities, tanker trucks, and cash storage sites. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said the United States already has information-sharing agreements with fifty-five international partners to track down terrorists. He said that the first goal of the anti-ISIS coalition is to counter ISIS in Syria, Iraq, followed by Afghanistan and Libya — and in the “intangible geography and terrain of the Internet.”

Kerry said that even as the process of defeating ISIS continues, the “cancer” is spreading, developing expertise in more foreign languages, and establishing contacts around the world.

Kerry said that to understand how to defeat the network, leaders must be clear on the purpose of ISIS.

“To kill as many people as it can, in as many places as possible,” Kerry said.