Now that ISIS has been defeated in both Mosul and Raqqa, the United States is "heavily involved" in stabilizing those areas, State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Friday, but it will be a lengthy process.
"Stabilization is de-mining the area, getting rid of booby-traps ISIS set, getting the electricity back on, getting clean water so people, eventually hundreds of thousands of people who lived in Raqqa can start to go home," Nauert told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is wrapping up his 11-day trip to Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Geneva, where he was talking about Syria and its political process, said Nauert.
"For folks that forget what Raqqa represents, we remember the Nice terror attack," she said. "We remember the Brussels terror attack. Those were plotted from this town Raqqa. The fact that the coalition was able to liberate Raqqa and take out ISIS is not getting enough attention."
The United States does not see a future with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "at all," she added.
"Eventually we like to get to an election process," Nauert said. "That is way down the road. We still have a lot more work to do."
Meanwhile, Nauert said the United States and Russia do not see eye-to-eye on many topics, but they do when it comes to stabilizing Syria.
"We had a cease-fire in southwest part of Syria since July," said Nauert. "It was underreported. That cease-fire saved lives."
Nauert also discussed North Korea, calling Americans' fears about the country founded as it is a "rogue nation" worldwide.
"We've seen two successful U.N. Security Council resolutions which is huge, backed by both Russia and China," she said. "They're supporting it. We at the State Department are pushing ahead with the peaceful pressure campaign which pushes for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
The Obama administration, Nauert added, had a policy of "strategic patience" with North Korea, but that did not work.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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