Barack Obama announces $5 billion terrorism partnership fund

The US has announced a $5 billion “terrorism partnership fund” to help other countries tackle extremists.

The cash will help countries in the Middle East, Africa and East Asia.

President Barack Obama announced the plan at the US Military Academy in West Point, as he set out his foreign policy vision.

The end of the combat mission in Afghanistan at the end of the year would free up resources to tackle emerging threats elsewhere, he said.

“I am calling on Congress to support a new counter-terrorism partnerships fund of up to $5 billion, which will allow us to train, build capacity, and facilitate partner countries on the front lines.”

The money would go towards missions such as training security forces in Yemen, supporting a multinational force to keep the peace in Somalia, working with European allies to train a functioning security force in Libya, and helping French operations in Mali, Barack Obama said.

Turning to the civil war in Syria, Barack Obama promised to “ramp up support” for those in opposition to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, although he did not give details about what that would mean in practice.

Barack Obama’s speech attempted to recast US foreign policy as one which would use military force when necessary but primarily acts on a platform of international consensus.

“We must broaden our tools to include diplomacy and development; sanctions and isolation; appeals to international law and – if just, necessary, and effective – multilateral military action.

“We must do so because collective action in these circumstances is more likely to succeed, more likely to be sustained, and less likely to lead to costly mistakes.”

Last week, the US sent about 80 troops to Chad as part of a mission to help locate hundreds of school girls abducted by Islamist group Boko Haram in neighboring Nigeria.

The address marks the start of a series of speeches from the president about foreign policy over the next 10 days, in an attempt to respond to critics who say current US foreign policy is weak.

On a trip to Europe, Barack Obama will give a speech about US commitment to Europe in Warsaw, meet with the G7 leaders in Brussels, and honor US veterans in Normandy at the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.