Kerry calls for global coalition to fight ISIS agenda

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Friday for a global coalition of states to combat Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants’ “genocidal agenda” in Syria and Northern Iraq.

A week ahead of a NATO summit in Wales that will gather leaders from different Western countries, Kerry advocated “a united response led by the United States and the broadest possible coalition of nations” in an op-ed published in the New York Times and Al Arabiya News.

“The goal is to enlist the broadest possible assistance,” he wrote.

The top U.S. diplomat said he and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel would “meet with our counterparts from our European allies,” on the sidelines of the NATO summit.

U.S. President Barack Obama has said he is still developing a comprehensive plan to defeat ISIS, which has taken large swathes of Iraq and Syria under its control, declaring a “caliphate” and committed a series of atrocities.

In his column, Kerry said Obama will put forward a plan for dealing with ISIS at a summit meeting of the U.N. Security Council scheduled in September, when the U.S. holds the group’s rotating presidency.

“We will use that opportunity to continue to build a broad coalition and highlight the danger posed by foreign terrorist fighters, including those who have joined ISIS,” Kerry said, using an alternate acronym for the militant group.

“What’s needed to confront its nihilistic vision and genocidal agenda is a global coalition using political, humanitarian, economic, law enforcement and intelligence tools to support military force,” Kerry said.

Following the NATO summit, he said he and Hagel would travel to the Middle East to build support “among the countries that are most directly threatened.”

“The cancer of ISIS will not be allowed to spread to other countries. The world can confront this scourge, and ultimately defeat it,” Kerry added.

The NATO summit in Wales will run from September 4-5.