On Saturday the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, which left 129 people dead and 352 injured.
"From the start, our goal has been to contain, and we have contained them. They have not gained ground in Iraq, and in Syria, they'll come in, they'll leave, but you don't see this systematic march by ISIL across the terrain," said the US President in an interview with ABC News that aired in the US on Friday morning.
Interview @POTUS @BarackObama said #ISIL was "shrinking" and "contained" same day of Paris attacks. / https://t.co/VCKvFgbuGM vía youtube
— Alberto Pérez Cano (@alpeca) 15 ноября 2015
Obama said that the main task left for US forces is to take out the terrorist organization's top command, and recruit Sunni fighters to join the fight.
"What we have not yet been able to do is to completely decapitate their command and control structures. We've made some progress in trying to reduce the flow of foreign fighters, and part of our goal has to be to recruit more effective Sunni partners in Iraq to really go on offence, rather than simply engage in defense," said Obama.
President Obama said "ISIL continues to shrink" in an interview just hours before the horrible attack in Paris. He is just so bad! CHANGE.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 14 ноября 2015
Friday morning, Pres Obama announced, "We have contained ISIS." Whew. Good to know.
— WH PRESS SECRETARY (@weknowwhatsbest) 14 ноября 2015
To think Obama said early today his admin had “contained the momentum that ISIL had gained”.. this will rank up there with JV remark #Paris
— Tom Tillison (@TomT_FL) 14 ноября 2015
In response to the criticism, a senior White House official told CNN that the attacks could be construed as one of the 'bad days' of fighting the terror group.
Why did Obama say ISIS was 'contained'? #ParisAttacks https://t.co/wwqUgSrjpC pic.twitter.com/V330FSC9NI
— CNN (@CNN) 14 ноября 2015
"We, including the President, have said from beginning the fight against ISIL would be long and have both good and bad days," said the official.
