US presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump says NATO should play a more active role in the war against Daesh (ISIL), adding that Washington provides the Western military alliance with more support than it should.
In an interview with CBS on Sunday, Trump said he would declare a war against the terror group if he becomes president and would deploy “very few” ground troops to fight it.
"I am going to have very few troops on the ground. We're going to have unbelievable intelligence, which we need; which, right now, we don't have. We don't have the people over there," he said, only a day before the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
"We're going to have surrounding states and, very importantly, get NATO involved because we support NATO far more than we should, frankly, because you have a lot of countries that aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing. We have to wipe out ISIS," he added, using an alternative acronym for the terror group.
Trump blamed his Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton for ISIL’s creation, saying she was “responsible” for its atrocities. Clinton served as the US secretary of state during US President Barack Obama’s first term in office.
"Hillary Clinton invented ISIS with her stupid policies. She is responsible for ISIS. She led Barack Obama -- because I don't think he knew anything; I think he relied on her," Trump said.
This was the New York businessman’s first joint interview with Indiana Governor Michael Pence as his running mate.
Pence, for his part, took a jab at Clinton and Obama, saying Washington’s power is on the decline because of their policies.
"The larger issue here is declining American power in the world," he said, adding, I think that is all a result of a foreign policy of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama that has led from behind and that has sent an inexact, unclear message, about American resolve."
Trump, Pence disagreements
The pair’s first joint interview also highlighted their different views about a number of issues, including trade, the Iraq war, banning Muslims from entering the US, and torture.
Despite Trump’s support for waterboarding as an interrogation tactic, Pence said he opposed the idea, saying "I don't think we should ever tell our enemy what our tactics are."