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A Pentagon-led plan to defeat the Islamic State group, due in draft form by Monday, will look beyond Iraq and Syria to include the threat from extremists around the world fueling the conflict, U.S.'s top general said Thursday.
The remarks by Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggest the preliminary plan will be far broader in scope than initially thought and might initially omit more tactical details, like specific troop requests.
"This is not about Syria and Iraq. It's about trans-regional threat," Dunford told a think-tank event in Washington, citing other extremist groups like al-Qaida.
"So, when we go to the president with options, it will be in the context of the trans-regional threat."
Dunford noted U.S. military estimates that the Islamic State group had drawn 45,000 foreign fighters from more than 100 nations around the world.
"Our plan, to be successful, needs to, number one, cut the connective tissue between regional groups that now form a trans-regional threat," he said.
The review of U.S. strategy could lead to relaxing some of the former Obama administration's policy restrictions, like limits on troop numbers.
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