WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Assertions that the US foreign policy in Iraq has failed and the fight against the Islamic State (IS) is stalled do not reflect the actual situation on the ground, US Vice President Joe Biden stated on Thursday.
“Critics have made a number of claims regarding our policy in Iraq and the state of affairs in Iraq today,” Biden said in a speech at the National Defense University.
“The claims do not reflect the circumstances on the ground.”
Biden also dismissed assertions that Iraq is doomed to split apart, and noted that the IS is not in a commanding position in the country.
On March 24, US Senator John McCain said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that the United States needs to reevaluate its approach to the Middle East policy as the balance among regional states is collapsing.
A US-led Coalition of some 60 countries has been carrying out airstrikes against the IS militants in Iraq and Syria since August 2014.
At the end of 2014, US President Barack Obama authorized a $1.6 billion train-and-equip program with approximately $1.2 billion allotted to equip the Iraqi Security Forces, according to the US Department of Defense.
The Islamic State is a radical Sunni militant group in control of large areas in Syria and Iraq. It is notorious for its many human rights atrocities, including on-camera executions of foreign hostages posted online.
