Turkish strikes frustrate U. S. goals
Turkey is bombing Kurdish rebels when the United States wants the country instead to focus on ISIS.
4 WASHINGTON— In a fresh test for U.S. coalition- building efforts, Turkey is launching airstrikes against Kurdish rebels inside its borders this week despite pleas from the Obama administration to instead focus on an international campaign to destroy Islamic State militants wreaking havoc in the region. Media reports about the Turkish strikes surfaced Tuesday as President Barack Obama and military chiefs from more than 20 nations gathered in Washington in a show of unity against the Islamic State group. “This is an operation that involves the world against ISIL,” Obama declared, referring to the militant group by one of its many names. The Turkish airstrikes occurred Monday and marked the country’s first major strikes against Kurdish rebels on its own soil since peace talks began two years ago. The U. S. has been pressing Turkey— a NATO ally— to take a more active role in the campaign to destroy the Islamic State group, but the Turks have said they won’t join the fight unless the U. S.- led coalition also targets Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government. Officials from Ankara participated in Tuesday’s meeting at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. A U. S. military official familiar with the talks said the chiefs of defense agreed to recommend to their governments that they continue to move forward together against the extremists, “to contribute capabilities best suited to each nation, and to take action to build on the successes already achieved by coalition efforts on the ground and in the air.”