WASHINGTON – The commitment of U.S. forces to fighting ISIS could increase, not diminish, as a rising number of Sunni jihadist groups that control vast areas of territory in Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, and Central and South Asia pledge allegiance to jihadist army and its Islamic caliphate, according to terrorism experts.
The prospect comes amid ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's announced intention to bring under his caliphate non-contiguous swaths of territory in Arab and non-Arab countries where jihadist groups have sworn oaths of allegiance.
Concern that the U.S. may need to expand forces to confront ISIS targets comes as Congress considers approving the use of U.S. military forces beyond current efforts in Iraq and Syria, where Baghdadi has declared his ISIS caliphate.
In recent testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State John Kerry raised the prospect of future requests for additional funding to deploy ground forces in countries where ISIS is expanding.
The request caught lawmakers by surprise, especially the suggestion that U.S. combat ground forces would need to be deployed.
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“I don’t think anybody wants to get into a long-term ground operation here,” Kerry testified. “But we also don’t want to hamstring the generals and the commanders in the field and the president, (their) commander in chief, from their ability to be able to make such decision they need to make.”
The Obama administration will need new authority to implement the request for an increase in the use of U.S. forces in various countries.
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., chairman of the committee, has drafted an authorization for the use of military force, or AUMF, for a three-year period. It would forbid the use of ground combat troops in most situations, with exceptions for intelligence gathering, reconnaissance and rescue missions, which likely would be carried out by Special Forces.
The AUMF does not impose any geographic limitation.
Kerry, however, said the administration didn’t want limits imposed in any AUMF
“It sounds to me like you’re making the case for a rather open-ended authorization,” Menendez said to Kerry.
Menendez intends to bring his AUMF to the Senate floor sometime this week, but the debate over the issue could lapse into next year when a new Congress is convened.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, already has said he intends to take up debate next year and expects the Obama administration to bring forward a war resolution to Congress.
The urgency of the administration’s request recently was underscored in a WND report of ISIS acquiring the allegiance of the Egyptian group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, or Defenders of Jerusalem, which gives Baghdadi a major foothold on the Sinai Peninsula in the largest Sunni Arab country in the world.
In going to Congress, the Obama administration is seeking the authority to deploy Special Forces, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that such action is imminent.
One early prospect for such deployment could be Libya, informed sources tell WND.
There, the government is on the verge of being toppled by jihadist militants, many of whom have sworn allegiance to ISIS.
Ironically, the rise of these groups has come about as a result of a U.S. push in October 2011 to topple the government of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi. Then, in 2012, the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was attacked, with many of the perpetrators remaining at large.
With the current government of Gen. Khalifa Hifter facing an overthrow, sources say that there could be limited military action to ensure he remains in power.
Military experts are coming to the conclusion that limited airstrikes to rout jihadist militants, whether in Libya, Syria or Iraq, will not be sufficient and the need to deploy Special Forces may become necessary.
As airstrikes continue, ISIS fighters seek cover among the population, increasing the risk to civilians and raising the prospect that civilian casualties often referred to as “collateral damage” will only encourage more jihadist recruitment.
In addition to Libya and Iraq, U.S. Special Forces conceivably could become engaged with jihadist militants in Egypt, Yemen – where considerable U.S. drone activity is under way – and even in non-Arab countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan, where jihadist groups similarly have sworn allegiance to ISIS.
Already, President Obama has ordered an expanded role in Afghanistan to prevent ISIS involvement, despite previously announced efforts to remove U.S. combat forces.
In early November, the president authorized the doubling of U.S. troop levels to 1,500 in Iraq, despite his pledge of no “boots on the ground.”
Those troops, however, will be used to train and advise Iraqi and Kurdish ground combat troops. It is unrealistic, nevertheless, that they would not be in a direct combat role against ISIS, despite Pentagon assurances.
The Obama administration already has sought an additional $5.6 billion for the training and equipping efforts in Iraq and support for ongoing operations, including intelligence collection, ammunition and deploying military advisers.
The administration intends to seek new authorization and additional funding, however, for the option of deploying additional troops. Any possible expansion in other countries would not come out of the current $5.6 billion just approved by Congress.