MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the diplomat, the United States is trying to solve a deep political issue militarily.
"The United States does not have leverage to forge a consensus. And, frankly, the Obama administration is doing very little, if anything, to generate leverage to forge that consensus," Ford told CNN on Wednesday.
According to Ford, one of the main problems is that Washington has a "myopic" notion of the Daesh terrorist group.
"The Islamic State [Daesh] is a problem, but the Islamic State [Daesh] came out of the broader problem of the Syrian civil war. And it really isn't going to be solved outside the context, outside a larger solution to the Syrian civil war," Ford added.
Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to President Bashar Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups. The United States and their Western allies have many times tried to accuse Assad of being responsible for the bloodshed and insisted on his resignation.
Daesh is a terrorist group mainly operating in Syria and Iraq. The jihadists have also claimed responsibility for attacks in Europe. The group is outlawed in many countries around the world, including Russia and the United States.
