Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Wednesday that the United States needs to get serious about creating a broader international coalition to fight ISIS — even if that means sending more U.S. troops into Syria and Iraq.
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead,” Kasich faulted President Barack Obama for allowing U.S. allegiances overseas to “deteriorate over time.”
“We have not led, and when you don’t lead, you create doubt in the minds of our friends, and also, it encourages our enemies,” he said.
He said he’d support a larger U.S. military presence in the region.
“I would just hope that our Western friends and people that share our Western values would realize that the time has come to destroy ISIS as part of a coalition,” Kasich said.
“And if that means that U.S. boots have to be on the ground, so be it,” he said. “Because to allow this to linger, to put this off, to think that somehow this is going to go away is naive at best.”
Kasich said joining Russia in the fight against ISIS doesn’t mean the United States should set aside fights with Moscow over its incursion in Ukraine and its intervention in favor of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s fight against rebels there.
“I believe that sometimes friends will disagree — or, I wouldn’t say Russia’s our friend, but I would say interested parties can disagree,” he said.