clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Pentagon: 'No connection between Hagel's resignation and US strategy against ISIS'

November 26, 2014 at 5:30 pm

The spokesman for the US Department of Defence John Kirby denied any connection between US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel’s resignation and the American strategy in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).

“There’s no connection between the Secretary’s resignation and the strategy we’re pursuing against ISIL [ISIS],” Kirby said at a Pentagon press briefing.

In a press statement issued today by the US Department of Defence, Kirby confirmed that the US-led coalition against ISIS is progressing strongly and that Kurdish and Iraq forces were able to regain some of the territory that was seized by the organisation over the past few months. The military official said the United States will continue its aerial support of the Iraqi army, in addition to providing support and advice of military forces on the ground.

Hagel’s departure was “a mutual decision arrived at between the President and the Secretary of Defence,” Kirby said. “It would be inaccurate to characterize it as anything other than that. It’s not that he didn’t want to stay on the job. It’s that they both decided he had accomplished a lot.”

Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that Hagel’s resignation came as a result of a series of consultations that took place between him and US President Barack Obama during which the two sides agreed that it was time to make changes at the Pentagon, and that it would prove beneficial for someone else to lead the Department of Defence during Obama’s remaining two years as president.

“This is based on a conversation between the two of them about what the next two years of this administration is going to look like,” Earnest said. “And based on what those priorities are going to be over the next two years, both men determined that it was an appropriate time for Secretary Hagel to step down.”