Three years is a conservative estimate unless the ROE changes.
Via The Telegraph
The timescale was suggested by John Kerry, the US secretary of state, on the final day of the Nato summit in Wales as the UK pledged to stand alongside the United States in its battle to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
While David Cameron insisted that Britain was “not yet” at the point of launching air strikes, the Prime Minister added that “clearly a military commitment is required” as he signed up to a “core coalition” led by the US.
He pledged to stand beside Barack Obama, who has said he will hunt down the jihadists in the “same way we went after al-Qaeda”. But it emerged that other European nations, including Germany, are reluctant to join the fight, believing other conflicts including Afghanistan and Russian aggression towards Ukraine to be greater concerns.[…]
At the conclusion of the summit, Mr Cameron again said that Britain could take part in a military intervention to defend our “national interest”. “The struggle we are involved in, fighting Islamist extremists at home and abroad, is a generational one,” he said.
“In terms of military commitment, solving this problem has already taken military commitment. Britain has been dropping aid out of military planes. We’ve been flying spy plane missions over part of Iraq, we’ve been supplying the Peshmerga [Kurdish forces] with arms.
“Clearly a military commitment is required and what I’ve said is that nothing is ruled out. We’ll act in our national interest. Anything we do must be part of a comprehensive plan. We must work with allies. We’ve got to help those on the ground who are involved in the fight right now.”
His comments came after Mr Kerry said that a number of Nato members had formed a “core coalition” that will wipe out the “genocidal, territorial-grabbing, caliphate-desiring” Isil fighters. There was now no “contain policy for Isil”, Mr Kerry said, indicating that more air strikes were being planned against the terrorists.