U.S. Says It Will Overhaul Program Intended To Train Syrian Rebels

By NPR

Published October 9, 2015 at 12:00 AM EDT

In this Aug. 20, 2015 file photo, Defense Secretary Ash Carter speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon. Carter spoke with his Russian counterpart Friday, the first step in direct military talks proposed by Russia about Moscow's military buildup to support the Syrian government against the Islamic State group.

The United States is overhauling a program that intended to train moderate Syrian rebel fighters.

As we've reported, the $500 million program, which sought to train 5,400 fighters, has failed. At last count, the U.S. said it had been able to train only about 60 fighters.

NPR's Tom Bowman reports that the new program will train so-called enablers at a site in Turkey. Those enablers will be opposition leaders who can collect intelligence about the location of Islamic State fighters and call in U.S. airstrikes in coordination with existing fighters.

Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter spoke obliquely about the changes after he met with is British counterpart in London.

"I wasn't satisfied with the early efforts in that regard, so we're looking at different ways to achieve basically the same kind of strategic objectives," Carter said.

Carter said they had "devised a number of different approaches to that going forward" and we should expect an announcement on the program from President Obama.

Tom says that U.S. is also considering arming Arab and Kurdish fighters, who the U.S. believes are ready to try to retake the northern city of Raqqa, an Islamic State stronghold.