Aiding and abetting the building of the Caliphate.
President Barack Obama told troops here Friday that the United States and Russia have converging interests in fighting Islamic State militants in war-torn Syria.
But Obama warned Russia that backing Syrian President Bashar Assad against the rebels is a doomed policy and could ultimately derail any prospects for a peace settlement in the country.
The president spoke about Russian troops entering the country this week during a broadcasted question-and-answer session with troops around the world to mark the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.
“We are going to be engaging Russia to let them know that you can’t continue to double down on a strategy that is doomed to fail,” said Obama during the event. “If they are willing to work with us and a 60-nation coalition we put together, there’s the possibility of a political settlement in which Assad would be transitioned out and a new coalition of moderate, secular and inclusive forces could come together to restore order in the country.”
Russia has long been an ally of Assad and this week was moving ships, aircraft and infantry troops into Syria as the regime struggles with a four-year-old civil war and tenacious Islamic State fighters and other Islamic militants.[…]
Meanwhile, the United States has struggled with its own war against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Efforts to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels against the jihadi group have largely failed — proxy troops have quickly been killed or captured — and the effort is now being retooled by the Obama administration.
Russia, led by President Vladimir Putin, is likely to strike against the Islamic State as part of any intervention. But Putin’s forces could also come in conflict with U.S.-allied forces in the complex and long-running civil war.
“The good news is that Russia shares with us a concern about countering violent extremism and shares the view with us that ISIL is very dangerous,” Obama said, using an alternative name for the Islamic State. “So, despite our conflicts with Russia in areas like Ukraine, this is an area of potentially converging interests.”