In an interview Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press", Secretary of State John Kerry said he believed that the U.S. is ‘absolutely' on the road to destroying ISIS. "We are on the road to defeating ISIS", Kerry said expressing his confidence at the downfall of the Jihadist group ISIS at the hands of the U.S. led coalition. He assured that 22% of the populated areas had been taken back from ISIS. "I think the evidence is not in my saying it, but it's in the facts of what is happening", he added. Kerry confirmed that ISIS' strategy had changed: they no longer move in convoys and their command and control facilities have been attacked leaving them with no significant proportion of leadership. "We have said, since the beginning, this is a long-term operation, not a short-term one. But we believe everything, including the governing process in Iraq itself, is moving in the right direction," he explained. Since 2014, the terror group has publicly executed hostages, including two American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff; two British aid workers, David Haines and Alan Henning, American aid worker Peter Kassig, and Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath Al Kasasbeh. Kerry was not able to confirm ISIS allegations regarding Kayla Mueller, the American aid worker who ISIS claims was killed in the Jordanian airstrike over northern Syria.
