“The types of things I’ve requested from our partners include special operations forces, strike and reconnaissance aircraft, and weapons and munitions,” Carter said.
The United States is prepared to provide attack helicopters and increased military advisors to help Iraq fight the Daesh, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said.
"The United States is prepared to assist the Iraqi Army with additional unique capabilities to help them finish the job, including attack helicopters and accompanying advisors, if requested by Prime Minister [Haider] Abadi," Carter said.
The United States should not be committing a significant number of its own ground forces to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Ashton Carter added.
"While we certainly have the capability to furnish a US component to such a ground force, we have not recommended this course of action," Carter stated.
A number of critics of President Barack Obama’s administration have advocated introducing several thousand US ground forces into the fight, in what Carter described as "the introduction of a significant foreign ground force."
The Pentagon has not recommended the Obama administration commit a large contingent to the ground because the commitment would largely be unilateral, and it would play into the narrative of the Islamic State, "so they could have a call to jihad," Carter explianed.
