Biden: Defeating Islamic State will ‘take long time’

Still, jihadists are ‘on their heels,’ US vice president assures American military instructors during visit to Jordan

King Abdullah II of Jordan, right, meets with US Vice President Joe Biden, at the Husseiniya Palace in Amman, Jordan, March 10, 2016. (AP/Raad Adayleh)
King Abdullah II of Jordan, right, meets with US Vice President Joe Biden, at the Husseiniya Palace in Amman, Jordan, March 10, 2016. (AP/Raad Adayleh)

ZARQA, Jordan — Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday told US troops who are training the Jordanian military that Islamic State extremists are “already on their heels,” but defeating them will take a long time.

Biden also told the US military instructors that Islamic State militants don’t pose an existential threat to the United States.

The vice president arrived in Jordan earlier Thursday. In the capital of Amman, he met with King Abdullah II, a key Western military ally.

Washington has scaled up military aid to Jordan in recent months in line with the kingdom’s central role in the fight against IS, which controls large areas of neighboring Syria and Iraq.

Vice President Joe Biden (C) attends a military demonstration at a Joint Training Center in the city of Zarqa, northeast of the capital Amman, on March 10, 2016. (AFP/KHALIL MAZRAAWI)
Vice President Joe Biden (C) attends a military demonstration at a Joint Training Center in the city of Zarqa, northeast of the capital Amman, on March 10, 2016. (AFP/KHALIL MAZRAAWI)

After lunch, the vice president and the king flew by helicopter to the Joint Training Center, a military compound near the town of Zarqa.

They viewed a flyover that included two F-16s and eight helicopters, among them Blackhawks and Cobras.

Biden then addressed US troops at a separate event in a mess hall in the compound.

“We are going to defeat ISIL,” Biden told the soldiers, referring to the group by one of its acronyms.

“They are already on their heels,” he said of the extremists. “It’s going to take a long time, going to take a long time. They are no existential threat to the United States because we’ve got you and the people you are training (and) the finest military tactics in the world.”

The wife of US vice president, Jill Biden (C) visits a school for Syrian refugees in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria on March 10, 2016. (AFP/AHMAD ABDO)
Jill Biden (C), the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, visits a school for Syrian refugees in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria on March 10, 2016. (AFP/AHMAD ABDO)

As part of the deepening military cooperation, the US last week gave Jordan eight Blackhawk helicopters to help boost border protection. An additional eight Blackhawks are in the pipeline.

Jordan is Biden’s last stop on a Middle East swing that also included the United Arab Emirates, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.

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