Obama pressured to break pledge

President Barack Obama’s election pledge not to drag the US into another war in Iraq was yesterday under increasing strain as he sent a further 450 soldiers to Anbar province to confront Isis.

The move, which brings to about 3550 the number of US troops in Iraq, underscores alarm at how the Iraqi army crumbled fighting Isis last month, losing the city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar.

Obama has faced mounting criticism in Washington this week after admitting for the second time in 10 months that he does not yet have ‘‘a complete strategy’’ for countering Isis.

The militant Islamist group now controls half of Syria and has advanced to within 80km of Baghdad, a city it has its sights on, according to US officials.

While Obama is eager to ensure that a key region in the Middle East maintains some stability, he promised last year in an address to troops: ‘‘I will not commit you and the rest of our armed forces to a ground war in Iraq.’’

The Pentagon has insisted that there is no combat mission planned in Iraq, but Obama has engaged in a broad number of incremental measures to bolster the Iraqi army, including training, provision of armaments and airstrikes.

The latest set of troops will be based at Taqaddum military base in eastern Anbar, bringing to five the number of US training bases in Iraq. There will be an emphasis on training and giving tactical advice to Sunni tribal fighters, who have yet to receive the backing and arms promised by the Shia-led Baghdad government.

However, the White House stressed that American troops will not get near the front lines, and Obama has shown no sign of being swayed by calls for US special forces to be deployed to direct airstrikes. Sorties by US and coalition bombers are currently so restricted by Pentagon fears of killing civilians that three quarters are returning to base without dropping a bomb.

Asked why the US was also rul- ing out putting military advisers in the field to mentor Iraqi troops, as well as the deployment of Apache attack helicopters, US officials said that the president was focused on ‘‘local solutions’’ to counter Isis.

‘‘It’s better than doing nothing; it’s almost certainly not enough,’’ said Michael O’Hanlon, a defence analyst at The Brookings Institution, a think tank.

O’Hanlon expects the US to send more troops to Iraq in the coming months.

Analysts said that the move to train tribal fighters appeared to be an effort to raise a second ‘‘Sunni awakening’’, when Sunni tribal militias took on the predecessor to Isis, al Qaeda in Iraq, between 2005 and 2007.

‘‘If this had been done in spring 2014 it could have been a gamechanger,’’ said Peter D Feaver, of Duke University. ‘‘Now, it looks like an incremental step, late in the game.’’

The decision to train more Sunni tribesmen also highlights US anxieties over Baghdad’s reliance on Shi’ite militias to counter Isis in Anbar.

While the Shi’ite militias have often proven more effective that the Iraqi army, the White House fears that their use risks a sectarian war.

Sunni tribal fighters trained by the US will be charged with retaking Ramadi, which fell last month, as well as Fallujah.

The White House hopes that will pave the wave for the eventual recapture of Mosul, Iraq’s secondbiggest city, which was overrun by Isis last June.

Obama said this week that ‘‘a big part of the answer [in Iraq] is outreach to Sunni tribes, which has not been happening as fast as it needs to’’.

However, critics argue that the president is yet to show decisive leadership. Republicans blame his decision to withdraw from Iraq in 2011 for giving Isis room to thrive.

John McCain, the Senate armed services committee chairman, said: ‘‘One has to wonder whether this president just wants to wait out the next year and a half and basically do nothing to stop this genocide, bloodletting, horrible things that are happening throughout the Middle East.’’