Probably best to take a “wait and see” approach on this one.
All but a few of the 40 countries in the coalition now fighting the Islamic State have “stepped up to do more in the last months and days,” Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said on Thursday after a meeting here with defense ministers from the group.
Mr. Carter said 90 percent of the countries had made pledges, but he did not offer many specifics on what the contributions would be. It also remained unclear what effect any new assistance would have on the battlefield, or even how many ministers would be able to deliver on their commitments.
“There’s just a great deal going on,” Mr. Carter said at a news conference after the meeting. He added that he was “happy to see so much going on” but that “we’re also impatient.”
“We want the pace to accelerate,” he said.
So they’re not really helping yet, but they have made promises to.
This whole article reads like a geopolitical version of a drunk guy promising to respect a woman in the morning while he’s hitting on her in a bar. To say the strategy for this fight (such as it is) has been muddy would be generous. Beyond proclamations about a desire to defeat ISIS, there hasn’t been much that is very clear.
Don’t worry though, they totally promise to have a plan soon.
As I’ve asked many times this year already: feel safe yet?
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