Julie Bishop says Arab League nations can play crucial role against Isis
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/09/julie-bishop-arab-league-nations-crucial-isis Version 0 of 1. Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, says the contribution of Arab League nations will be critical to combating the strategic threat posed by Islamic State (Isis) militants. Bishop told the ABC on Tuesday her expectation was that Arab states would join an American-led effort in northern Iraq, and that regional contribution would be “absolutely vital.” The foreign minister said the contribution may not be military “but it could well be targeting the financial flow, the recruitment activity and the social media campaigns” of Isis and similar groups. “The United States has called for many nations to come together to develop a plan to disrupt and degrade [Isis] and to contain its activities and to protect the innocent civilians that it’s targeting,” Bishop said. “In defining the resources and assets that will be required, and determining a realistic set of goals, it’s important that many countries contribute to the effort. And my expectation is that the Arab states will join the effort.” The Arab League, meeting in Cairo Monday, passed a resolution agreeing to combat Islamic State extremism, but the resolution did not explicitly back US military action. On Thursday the US president, Barack Obama, is expected to outline his strategy for dealing with the crisis in northern Iraq. A Nato summit in Wales late last week resolved that a core coalition of 10 countries – including Australia – would face off against Isis extremism. Obama has been criticised at home and abroad for failing to articulate a clear strategy for containing extremism in the Middle East. Tony Abbott, who has been making it plain publicly for some weeks that Australia would contribute willingly to a military escalation as long as there was a clear mission, noted on Monday the US had not rushed into action. The Australian prime minister also signalled on Monday that Australia’s contribution to the US-led coalition may be comprised of military advice rather than a specific contribution to airstrikes. Abbott said Australia was continuing to talk with allies about “whether we should help with some air capability, whether we should help with some military advisers”. On Tuesday Bishop said Australia still did not have a specific request from Washington, but she anticipated some countries would be asked to contribute in a technical capacity as part of an effort to strengthen the capability of the Iraqi security forces. “Ideally it would be best for the Iraqi security forces to defend the country against the murderous band of terrorists, but there is an anticipated role for some countries to provide trainers and advisers,” Bishop said. “Australia hasn’t had a specific request and so we will consider any requests when it’s received, weigh the risks and assess what role we can play.” The foreign minister repeated Australia’s criteria for assessing the basis for contributing to the international effort. “First we need to see a clearly defined set of objectives developed. We need to determine the overall goal by which any success of the mission would be judged and assess what resources and assets would be necessary to achieve the objectives,” she said. “We’d also want to know a realistic timeframe for the effort and then we’d be in a position to determine the proportionate role for Australia.” |