Obama Admin Seeks Congress's Assent To Counter-Terrorism Fund

WASHINGTON: Obama Administration has requested Congressional approval to USD 5 billion counter-terrorism fund, which was announced by the President earlier this year, to bolster U.S.' and its allies' capabilities to fight ISIS.

U.S. President Barack Obama had in May announced the USD 5 billion fund to help countries deal with the rising challenge of terrorism and extremism across the globe.

The move has now been accelerated in view of threat posed by ISIS, the terrorist outfit which has gained control over a large part of Iraq and Syria, and brutally killed two American journalists in recent past.

"This (counter-terrorism fund) is a core component of the president's strategy for dealing with this (ISIS threat) and other issues like it around the globe," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.

"It can be used by the U.S. to build up effective partners, so that when the U.S. has to confront threats like this, we have well-trained, well- equipped, effective partners that we can work with to confront these problems," Earnest said.

"We want to work closely with partners around the globe, partners who have better knowledge of the local politics, who have better knowledge of the local terrain, who in some cases can prevent some of these situations from becoming so urgent and so severe," the Press Secretary said.

"That is one example of a funding request the President has made to members of Congress... That the lawmakers have talked about but not voted on. The President would certainly like to see those kinds of resources be provided because it would strengthen his hand and of future presidents to deal with urgent situations like this," he said.

Obama will tomorrow announce the U.S.' strategy to tackle the threat posed by ISIS.

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