The new defense secretary, Ashton B. Carter, said Monday after meeting with senior American military and diplomatic officials in Kuwait that the Obama administration had "the ingredients of the strategy" to defeat Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. In describing an approach that has included political and economic pressure in addition to military force, Mr. Carter said the United States now needed to better use the assistance of other countries in the international coalition that has come together to fight the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. Mr. Carter also said that despite the concerns and challenges surrounding the arming and training of Syrian rebels — whose allegiances may not ultimately line up with the United States' — the American military would be able to balance the risk. "We have a lot of experience in doing this," Mr. Carter said, referring to equipping the rebels. The military can "make sure that we conduct these activities in a way that is consistent with American values — we are good at all that," he said. "I would say it is one of the key lessons that we learned in Iraq and Afghanistan." The statements by Mr. Carter were the most detailed ones he has made about the Islamic State since he was sworn in as defense secretary last Tuesday. Shortly before the news conference, Mr. Carter met with more than 20 senior military commanders and ambassadors from the region. Among those who attended were Lt. Gen. James L. Terry, the commander of the international coalition fighting the Islamic State; John R. Allen, the retired general who now serves as the diplomatic envoy coordinating the coalition; and Brett H. McGurk, the State Department's top Iraq expert. While Mr. Carter endorsed the administration's strategy, he said there were aspects that needed to improve, like the efforts to combat the Islamic State's use of social media. "ISIL's use of social media will be pressing us to be more creative in combating it in the information dimension as well as the physical dimension," Mr. Carter said. The meeting also provided an update on the battle going on in Iraq's Anbar Province, where about 800 members of the Iraqi security forces were staging a counterattack against Islamic State forces that had taken the town of Baghdadi, on the Euphrates River. Iraq's ability to rally its military forces after they were badly routed by the Islamic State last summer has been held up by officials as a central part of the strategy to retake crucial parts of the country from the militants, particularly places like the northern city of Mosul. To that end, the battle for Baghdadi, which was said to have started last week, will be watched closely. General Terry said he was optimistic about the Iraqi forces' operation. "Pretty confident the Iraqis retake this," he said. "I think they have the right forces out there to do it." On another front, General Terry said, Kurdish security forces in Kisik Junction, a city west of Mosul, successfully got ahead of an attack by Islamic State fighters there. Notified by the Kurds, the United States killed at least 127 Islamic State fighters with airstrikes in the area, which is important because it controls important supply routes that would allow the Islamic State to easily move weapons and fighters. "The capabilities that we are seeing in the Iraqi security forces are growing. At the same time what I think we are not seeing on the part of Daesh is as important also — we are not seeing these broad counteroffenses," General Terry said, using the Arabic nickname for the Islamic State. The group "is not using the same tactics, techniques and procedures they used in the past when we first started this" in the summer, he said.
