JAKARTA: US Secretary of State John Kerry appealed on Monday for Asian nations to step up their efforts to combat Islamic State extremists and the deadly Ebola virus.

In Jakarta for the inauguration of Indonesia’s new reformist president, Kerry took the opportunity to meet separately with the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot.

Officials travelling with Kerry said preventing extremist recruitment in Southeast Asia, particularly in predominantly Muslim nations like Indonesia and Malaysia, is a main non-military priority of the coalition the US is assembling to combat the Islamic State group.

The US is looking for these countries “to do more and cooperate more” to keep extremist proselytising out of their territories, rebut extremist ideologies, prevent the flow of foreign fighters and crack down on terrorist financing, the officials said.

Kerry wasted no time in getting to that point, thanking the Malaysian premier for his country’s “strong statements” against the Islamic State group’s radical ideology, the officials said.

But Kerry also made clear that the international community must continue to do more to crack down on foreign fighters, they said.

With Abbot, Kerry hailed Australia’s role in the coalition, which includes a significant military component, and noted that Australians had seen first-hand the problem created by foreign fighters.

The presence of Australians among Islamic State fighters “brings home to everybody how important it is for this to be a global coalition and for all of us to understand the stakes,” Kerry told Abbot.

He also noted that the coalition’s military efforts had been given a boost in recent days by the Iraqi government’s selection of interior and defense ministers. “That is particularly helpful in planning and implementing our efforts,” Kerry said.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2014