Trump given new options to fight terror

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon has finished plans to intensify the fight against Daesh, officials said Monday, presenting Donald Trump with options to meet a key campaign pledge.
“The White House will begin reviewing the recommendations,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
Trump had demanded that top brass find additional ways to defeat terrorists who still control a swath of northern Syria and Iraq and have inspired attacks on the West.
That review is now complete, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will present the findings to Trump’s top national security advisers.
Trump made defeating the Daesh group a key pillar of his election campaign.
Trump faces a string of difficult decisions if he wants to set up the US to deliver a coup de grace.
President Barack Obama was reluctant to put a significant number of US boots on the ground, fearing a repeat of difficulties in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Trump must decide whether to intensify Obama’s air-and-ally based approach or deploy the might of the US military in a more decisive — and potentially risky — way.
He must also choose whether to back Kurdish-led forces who have shown most success in taking the fight to the Daesh group in northern Syria, something Turkey strongly opposes.
So far the White House and the Pentagon are being tight-lipped about what options Trump is being presented with.
“Do not expect a big rollout of this as it is still preliminary and we do not want to telegraph our actions in advance to the enemy,” said Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis.