40+ Nations in America’s Anti-ISIS Coalition, But Few to Do Anything

Australia Commits 600 Ground Troops to War

The Obama Administration has been desperate over the past few weeks to cobble together a massive “coalition” of nations to fight ISIS, an attempt to convince the American public that the war is not going to be “America’s war” to fight alone.

Over 40 nations have now signed on, with 26 of them expected to show up at the Paris summit Monday to talk ISIS. Apart from showing up at summits, it’s not clear what most of them are actually going to do.

A handful of Sunni Arab nations, along with France, have committed to airstrikes against ISIS, while Australia is planning to commit 600 ground troops to the war. Australian PM Tony Abbott insists the deployment is open-ended.

But the Sunni Arab nations, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates, aren’t welcome to launch strikes, according to Iraq’s president. Iran, a nation Iraq actually does want in the coalition, isn’t welcome according to the US.

Nations that have been hyped for their involvement, like Britain and Turkey, have both indeed signed on to the coalition, but neither seems to be planning to do anything. Turkey has insisted they will play no role in the ISIS war itself, and will restrict their involvement to humanitarian aid shipments.

That appears true across many of the members of the coalition, who were willing to put their name down on paper, but don’t want to actually get involved in the ISIS war, which promises to be long and bloody. The administration, which chiefly wants them on board just to pad their stats, is fine with that, knowing either way the US is the one doing all the fighting.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.