Jordan is one of the closest allies of the United States in the world: US army chief, 2nd add

Milley noted that the presence of military forces is only one part of maintaining stability, stressing the importance of economic, humanitarian, diplomatic and of course military aid. Regarding the nature of the threat at the present time, Milley believes that there are many threats, especially to Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. Milley pointed out to the threat of terrorism, as surveillance, intelligence gathering and reconnaissance operations on the terrorist organization of (ISIS) should be ensured. Speaking about ISIS, Milley said: “The ISIS caliphate was eliminated in the battles of Mosul and Raqqa, so the ISIS caliphate itself was eliminated, but the movement has not died yet, and the ideology has not died yet.” When asked if ISIS existed until now, Milley said that some ISIS terrorists are still roaming the deserts of Syria and to some extent Iraq, and this constitutes a threat to Jordan and stability in the region in general and is a threat to American interests. “If you look beyond the region here to East Africa and Somalia and across the central belt until you reach West Africa, you will see a variety of organizations branching out from these terrorist organizations under different names,” Milley noted. He underlined that countering terrorism remains a higher interest for the United States. Speaking about Iran, Milley said, “Iran is still an important issue, especially with Iranian capabilities and its negative influence and Iran’s support for a number of terrorist organizations in the region, and of course there is the ever-present issue: Iran’s nuclear capabilities, which we are watching closely.” He said the United States is committed to ensuring that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon. Regarding his visit to Syria in March, Milley confirmed this visit, and the presence of US forces in Syria for a while and their mission is to combat ISIS. He said that ISIS was destroyed a long time ago and this required great efforts. “We must remember that in 2011 we withdrew our forces from Iraq, and we did not have forces in Syria, and ISIS emerged from the desert in Syria to enter Iraq in 2014, and took control of a large part of northern Iraq and eastern Syria, and the organization was very radical, very violent and a destabilizing force in the area,” Milley added. Milley described the size of the US forces in Syria as “modest,” adding that there are forces in Iraq still working to consolidate the defeat of “ISIS.” On the reason behind the US military presence in northern Syria, he said that the whole matter is to consolidate the defeat of “ISIS”, noting that doing so means that you maintain the stability of the region. When asked if the moment the threat was eliminated, the United States would leave Syria, Milley said that this is a political decision, taken by the political leadership. It is taken by the US President and the US government. “I don’t want to predict a decision of this kind, but the main reason we were in Syria from the beginning was entirely about consolidating the defeat of ISIS,” Milley added.

Source: Jordan News Agency