President Barack Obama spoke about the U.S. strategy against the Islamic State, the militant group also known as ISIS or ISIL, saying the country has seen success from working with partners on the ground against the group, but there's still more work ahead.
"This will not be quick. This is a long-term campaign," he said Monday.
Obama said the successes of the U.S. are "reminders that ISIL's strategic weaknesses are real," and noted the group has lost a quarter of the populated areas it had previously seized.
"When we have an effective partner on the ground, ISIL can be pushed back," he said.
“ISIL is backed by no nation. It relies on fear, sometimes executing its own disillusioned fighters," Obama added.
Obama said Congress can help in the fight against the Islamic State by confirming Adam Szubin as the undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes at the Treasury Department. If confirmed, Szubin will oversee the economic component of the fight against the Islamic State.
Below, more from the AP:
Obama's meetings with top Pentagon officials and other national security advisers follow a wave of weekend airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition in eastern Syria. The coalition says it was one of the most sustained aerial operations carried out in Syria to date.
Ahead of Obama's meetings, the White House sharply criticized Senate Republicans for failing to confirm Adam Szubin, Obama's nominee to be the Treasury undersecretary responsible for choking off funding to groups like IS. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Republicans had refused to "even give him the time of day for a hearing" since Obama nominated Szubin in April, adding that the Senate should confirm him before lawmakers go home for their annual August recess.
"It's time for Republicans in the Senate to do their jobs for a change," Earnest said.
The president has insisted he will not send U.S. troops into combat to fight the Islamic State in Iraq or Syria. However, he has acknowledged that the U.S. lacks a "complete strategy" for training Iraqi troops to carry out ground missions.
Efforts to train Syrian rebels are also sputtering. Fewer than 100 rebels are being trained by the U.S., far fewer than the goal of producing 5,400 fighters a year.
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