US Strategy On Iraq Not Yet Complete – Obama

US President, Barack Obama, has said that the US does not have a “complete strategy” yet, for helping Iraq regain territory from Islamic State (IS).

He said the Pentagon was reviewing ways to help Iraq train and equip its forces, saying a full commitment to the process was needed by the Iraqis.

The President had earlier met Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Germany.

IS has recently made gains in Iraq despite US-led coalition air strikes.

In May, the militants seized Ramadi, the capital of Anbar, Iraq’s largest province, as well as the Syrian town of Tadmur and the neighbouring ancient ruins of Palmyra.

Obama said that the 3,000 US service personnel in Iraq sometimes found themselves with “more training capacity than we’ve got recruits”.

“We don’t have, yet, a complete strategy, because it requires commitments on the part of Iraqis as well about how recruitment takes place, how that training takes place.

“We want to get more Iraqi security forces trained, fresh, well-equipped and focused and (Mr) Abadi wants the same thing so we’re reviewing a range of plans for how we might do that.”

He said it was important to draw Sunni Muslims into the fight against IS.

“We’ve seen Sunni tribes who are not only willing and prepared to fight Isil (IS), but have been successful,” Obama said.

“But it has not been happening as fast as it needs to.”

Obama said although IS remained “nimble, aggressive and opportunistic”, he was “absolutely confident” it would be driven out of Iraq.

He added that Mr Abadi needed the support of the international coalition, as well as a government that represents all the Iraqi people.