Need to exterminate ISIS: Obama's aide Bobby Jindal

Washington, Oct 7: Indian-American Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has called for the extermination of the ISIS, saying the terrorist group has declared a war on the US and mere containing the outfit is the not the way forward.

"I know the President doesn't like to use these terms. we are in a war with ISIS. They've declared war on us, and whether he wants to call it that or not, that is a fighting conflict. We need to win that. We need to exterminate ISIS," Jindal, believed to a potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate, said in his maiden foreign policy speech.

"This is not about containing them. It's not about expelling them. It's about hunting them down and killing them. Obviously, we've got to complete that effort. America must prepare our defense forces not just to be able to win wars but to decisively win wars, to act as a deterrent against future conflict," he said in his address to the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a Washington-based top US think-tank.

Asserting that the world cannot accept a nuclear-armed Iran, he said that is not only an existential threat to Israel and other US allies in the region but a threat to the US as well. "I worry - almost a year ago now, the US, we announced this reprieve with Iran. We've seen no meaningful follow- through, no meaningful action since that time," he said.

"They're only strengthening their abilities. They're only hastening the day to which they will become a nuclear power, and the time for us to take decisive actions are running out," he said.

Jindal though praised President Barack Obama's pivot to Asia, but quickly noted that this has not been followed with action. "I actually think the President's pivot toward Asia was at least the shell of a good policy. I think the president was right to announce our intentions. Unfortunately, it wasn't followed up by the actual resources to do anything about it," he said.

"When you look at the growing strength of China, I think that is, the medium term, the rising threat. You've got China now, who wants to exercise more influence in its region. You have got many countries, including allies like South Korea and Japan, looking to American leadership," he said.

"You've got countries that were non-aligned, like India, and you've got other countries, even like Vietnam, that are looking to American leadership and willing to join with America, under America's leadership. But unfortunately, rhetoric is not good enough," he said.

"The President did a great job giving a speech about pivoting our attention and putting more resources there, but without the investment, without the actual resources to follow it up, it's going to ring hollow, and those countries aren't going to follow unless we actually follow through," he said.

PTI