WASHINGTON, November 26 (Sputnik) – The resignation of US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has nothing to do with Washington's strategy on eliminating the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in Iraq and Syria, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby has announced.
"There is no connection between the Secretary's [Hagel] resignation announced yesterday and the strategy that we are pursuing against ISIL in Iraq and Syria, no connection whatsoever," Kirby told journalists Monday during a press briefing.
The Pentagon official added that "Secretary [Hagel] is not questioning the effectiveness or the validity of the strategy that we are pursuing against ISIL, he said that in testimony…he believes this is the right strategy", stressing that this strategy "is working" and that the anti-IS coalition is "making progress".
Kirby pointed out the fact that US Secretary of Defense's job is to provide "advice and council, to poke and to prod…to contribute to interagency debate about the national security of the United States, and that's exactly what Secretary Hagel did".
Hagel, 68, a Vietnam war veteran and former Republican senator for his home state of Nebraska, resigned as US defense secretary on Monday after less than two years in the top military post. Prior to his resignation, Hagel had criticized Washington's anti-IS strategy in relation to the Syria regime.
IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), is a Sunni jihadi group that has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, it launched an offensive in Iraq, seizing vast areas in both countries and announcing the establishment of an Islamic caliphate on the territories under its control.
In September, US President Barack Obama announced his decision to form an international anti-IS coalition. The US-led coalition is currently carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State positions in Iraq and Syria.
