WASHINGTON: Retired US Marine general John Allen, former commander of American forces in Afghanistan, was appointed coordinator of the international effort against the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Al Sham (ISIS), the State Department announced on Friday.

“In this role General Allen will help continue to build, coordinate and sustain a global coalition across the multiple lines of efforts to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL,” said State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf, referring to the jihadists that have marauded against parts of Iraq and Syria.

President Barack Obama, in announcing a strategy to destroy the group, said the creation of an international coalition that included Arab and Muslim states was vital to the anti-IS effort.

Allen’s deputy will be Brett McGurk, the deputy assistant secretary of state for Iraq and Iran.

Allen directed US troops as well as the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan from 2011 to 2013. He also served a key US military role in the Iraq war.

In late 2012 President Barack Obama nominated Allen to be supreme commander of transatlantic alliance Nato, one of the most prestigious US military posts.

But he withdrew from consideration in the wake of a relationship scandal and subsequent inquiry that also led to the resignation of David Petraeus as CIA director. Allen retired from the military in February 2013.

In 2012, Allen advised and oversaw the withdrawal of 34,000 US surge troops sent to war-torn Afghanistan three years earlier to stem rising violence and to help thwart the Taliban. He previously served as second in command of CENTCOM, the US military command overseeing operations in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2014