White House: $11.6B More Needed for ISIS Fight, Afghanistan

The White House told Congress Thursday that it needs an additional $11.6 billion to pay for the campaign against Islamic State militants and the war in Afghanistan.

The request raises the price tag for both wars to $85.3 billion in 2017.

The money “is vitally important for our national security, and I strongly urge Congress to adopt it,” U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a statement Thursday evening.

Some $5.6 billion would go toward military operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. has been carrying out the bulk of the coalition airstrikes, and has been training and advising Iraqi security forces. Some of the funding would also help support the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.

Carter said the money funds initiatives “that will hasten the defeat” of ISIS.

“Additional resources will help sustain that positive momentum by boosting our support to partner forces and our intelligence efforts,” he said. “In addition to enhancing our effort to defeat ISIL, this plan would fund the President's decision to adjust our troop levels to better support the Afghan government's strategy to secure its nation, and would help enhance Afghanistan's aviation capability.”

Another $5.8 billion would go to the State Department and USAID for “counter-ISIL and counterterrorism objectives, including the efforts to implement the diplomatic engagement, governance, and stabilization components of [the] Administration's counter-ISIL strategy, strengthen embassy security, and respond to relief and recovery needs, as well as provide additional humanitarian assistance for areas liberated from ISIL and other unforeseen needs.”