US allies pledge to do more in war against IS

A coalition of countries battling Islamic State jihadists in Syria and Iraq yesterday pledged to pour more resources into the fight, after coming under strong pressure from Washington for greater contributions.

The promise came after a meeting in Stuttgart of defence ministers from countries involved in the anti-IS coalition, during which US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter drove home the message that to deal IS a body blow, "all must do more".

Carter's call to step up the fight came a week after US President Barack Obama reiterated a long-standing demand for members of Nato to increase their defence spending to meet the alliance's target of two percent of output.

Speaking after the talks with counterparts from Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway and Spain, Carter said he was "confident that today's meeting will produce additional military commitments".

Besides military resources, defence ministers meeting at the US European Command's headquarters also examined their economic and political contributions to the campaign, he said.