The Obama Administration in its last year is focused on looking for long-term solutions to current global challenges, including terrorism, and not the crises of the day, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said.
"As we plan for the coming year, we are focused on looking at long-term solutions, not the crises of the day, but on finding a way to lay the groundwork for security and stability for decades to come," Kerry said in his address to the National Defence University.
Kerry said this year the US, it would be recognised has a critical role to play on the world stage.
Observing that the rest of the world does not pause for the American election cycle, Kerry said US President Barack Obama has directed all across his administration to keep their eyes on the future.
"Ultimately, we need to ensure that the next President can continue to build on the successes that we have seen over the past seven years to pick up on the efforts still underway and benefit from the hard fought progress that our nation has made on so many different fronts," he said.
Describing terrorism as a top challenge of the current year, Kerry exuded confidence that Islamic State would be defeated.
"With respect to Daesh, we have, intensified our campaign; first through a 65-member international coalition that we have mobilised to degrade and defeat the terrorist group known as Daesh. ISIL, some people call it, but there is nothing Islamic about it, there's nothing that merits being called a state," he said.
"Daesh is, literally, the embodiment of evil -- psychopaths who murder and rape, adventurists in some cases, criminals in many cases who torture and pillage, and call it the will of God," Kerry said.
"Mark my words, as a matter of fact, Daesh will be defeated. The progress we have already made towards that end of defeating them is undeniable. So degrading and defeating Daesh is the first pillar of our strategy. The second is to work with our partners to prevent the violence from spreading," the top American diplomat said.
Kerry said the US will continue to monitor
implementation of the Iranian nuclear agreement closely, because existential challenges are at stake here.
It is not insignificant that Iran has agreed to submit to this, agreed to undertake these steps, agreed that it will not build this weapon, he said.
"Implementation day, which is the day on which Iran proves that it has sufficiently downsized its nuclear programme and can begin to receive sanctions relief, is going to take place very soon, likely within the next coming days somewhere. And when that happens, we are convinced it will make us and our partners around the world more safe and secure," Kerry said.
The Paris agreement on climate change, he said was made possible by unprecedented collaboration on climate issue between the US and China, which began by an initiative from President Obama that the US would engage with China in order to bring Beijing in instead of leaving it outside, as it has been in most of the meetings previously that we have had on the issue.
