Daesh can be defeated if anti-terror efforts synchronised

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah has said that war against the khawarej (the outlaws of Islam) is a global struggle that brings together Muslims, Christians, Jews and other religions to fight together. 

The King made his remarks during an interview with CNN in Washington DC on Wednesday, conducted by Wolf Blitzer (see full text). 

He explained that the war against the khawarej does not involve Daesh, or ISIS, alone. 

“All these groups — whether they’re from the Philippines or in Indonesia all the way to Mali — these are all same, whether ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Shabab, Al Nusra — wherever you find them around the world."

On whether Daesh can be defeated, His Majesty replied: "Well, again, let’s make the differentiation when we say ISIS — Syria or Iraq — or if we are saying this global war against the khawarej, the outlaws of Islam. So ISIS, Syria and Iraq can be defeated fairly quickly, but the global war, what I call the third world war by other means, is one that is a generational one."

He added: "Hopefully the military-security aspect is the short term, or the military part is the short term; the mid-term is going to be the intelligence and security aspect; and the long term is the ideological one and the educational one."

His Majesty called for full synchronisation of the anti-Daesh war.

“It comes down to this issue of synchronisation: how do we bring it all together? This is something that has been discussed over the past several months and this is what we are trying to do now. So what is Jordan’s maximum effort and what can we do to really close the circle, what do the Iraqis do, what do the Turks do, what do the Kurds do in coordination with the rest of the coalition. Vienna is very important because how do we deal with the Russians. My view, if we could get the Russians to be part of the synchronisation, even better; but that is a problem between Moscow and Washington.”

On whether Jordan sees as a threat the imminent lifting of sanctions off Iran under the nuclear deal with the US and world powers, and the ensuing release of huge funds to Tehran, the King said such a development is “a concern to so many inside and outside the region”, and demanded that Iran’s performance be also measured by the manner it acts on other files, including its interference in regional countries.

Asked why Jordan has not severed its ties with Tehran amid the crisis between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Monarch said that the tough anti-Iran stand taken by Amman was in coordination with the Saudis.

“We took a firm position against what the Iranians did; we fully support our Saudi friends, and we took the position that we took. We brought in the Iranian ambassador and expressed our displeasure. This was done in coordination with our Saudi allies,” he said, adding that Jordan has “an amazingly strong relationship with our Saudi brethren”.

His Majesty returned Thursday to the Kingdom from his official visit.

During the visit, the King met briefly with US President Barrack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, US Secretary of State John Kerry and US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter, in addition to leaders and presidents of Congress committees from the Senate and the House of Representatives. 

The King also met with representatives of US Arab and Islamic organisations in Washington.