WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday defended President Barack Obama's strategy against the Islamic State (IS) but offered no new details in his opening remarks at a Congress hearing on international commitments to a coalition the administration is forming.
The House on Wednesday voted 273-156 to back Obama's plan to train and arm vetted members of the moderate Syrian opposition, but the President reiterated no use of ground troops in the anti- IS fight, now mainly relying on U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and possibly Syria and training Iraqi and Syrian local forces to fight IS on ground.
Meanwhile, as part of the U.S. anti-IS strategy, a broad international coalition hasn't yet been formally announced, causing some lawmakers to cast doubt on whether there will truly be a coalition that includes Arab countries in order to avoid giving the plan a solely Western face.
"More than 40 nations have already expressed their willingness to participate in this effort, and more than 30 nations have indicated their readiness to offer military support," Hagel told lawmakers at a House Armed Services Committee hearing.
"President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary Kerry and I and others are working to unite and expand this coalition," he added.
Hagel listed a number of countries with which U.S. officials have held discussions, saying some have pledged military support, but most of the contributors and what the contributions could be have not yet been made clear.
According to Hagel, key Western allies of U.S. are already on board, including Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Australia, and that they have already been contributing to the effort.
However, House Armed Services Committee member Adam Smith said "without Muslim and Arab partners, ISIL would seek to paint themselves as protecting Islam against Western aggression."
"To win this fight, we have got to find partners, Muslim partners, in the case of ISIL, Arab partners," Smith said.
Hagel explained that "all 22 nations of the Arab League adopted a resolution at their summit in Cairo calling for comprehensive measures to combat ISIL."
In addition, Hagel called on more nations to make contributions next week at the UN General Assembly and at a meeting Obama would chair.
According to a statement released Thursday by the U.S. Central Command, since Aug. 8, U.S. fighter aircraft have conducted a total of 176 airstrikes across Iraq.
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