The gathering on October 14th at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, dc, of top military brass from 22 countries in the American-led coalition against Islamic State (is) had two main aims. The first was to work out how to integrate the effort of each into something that looks like a strategy. The second, underlined by the attendance of Barack Obama, was to demonstrate the seriousness of America's commitment to defeating is. The president implicitly acknowledged that both are a work in progress, saying that it was going to be a long-term campaign with "periods of progress and setbacks".
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