U.S.: Ousting IS will take time

LONDON – The U.S. and its allies sought to put a good face on the coalition’s deliberate campaign to roll back the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria on Thursday, boasting of having killed thousands of militants while acknowledging that ousting the group from key cities remains a distant aspiration.

Speaking to reporters in London alongside the British foreign minister and Iraqi prime minister, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said nearly 2,000 air strikes had arrested the Islamic State group’s momentum, squeezed its finances, killed “in the single digit” thousands of fighters and eliminated half of the group’s leadership.

A U.S. Central Command official said a conservative estimate would be 6,000 militants killed.

Kerry’s remarks came as Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told the Associated Press a day before the London meeting that the U.S. and its partners weren’t moving fast enough in supplying Iraq with weapons.

“There is a lot being said and spoken, but very little on the ground,” al-Abadi told the AP.

Those comments were met with a sharp rebuke from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon.

“I do disagree with the prime minister’s comments. I would say even further, I don’t think they’re helpful,” Hagel told reporters.

Hagel rattled off a list of weapons and equipment the U.S. has provided to Iraq, including at least 1,500 Hellfire missiles, 250 mine-resistant vehicles and thousands of small arms weapons and ammunition. He added that three of four planned camps to train Iraqi troops are up and running and the fourth will be operating soon.

Kerry, at a meeting of anti-Islamic State coalition partners, acknowledged that the international coalition “can do better” at slowing the flow of foreign recruits, curbing the militant group’s fundraising and challenging its extremist ideas.