Obama asks Australian P.M. Abbott for bigger effort in Mideast

BEIJING, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- President Obama asked Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Monday to increase Australia's contribution to the struggle with the Islamic State.

The two leaders met at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing where they are attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting. Obama called Australia a "stalwart contributor" to the military effort aimed at the group also known as ISIS or ISIL

"We're moving to a slightly different phase now. Initially our goal was to stop the momentum of ISIL as it was sweeping through Iraq, and you were seeing too many Iraqi security force units scatter. And although, particularly in Anbar Province in the west, you're still seeing ISIL take over isolated towns, you haven't seen the same momentum,"Obama said at a news conference after the meeting.

The goal now is to provide training for Iraqi troops and air support, the president said.

"As we are setting that up, I am having conversations with Australia and other coalition partners that are already committed to putting trainers in to see how they can supplement and work with us in this overall effort," Obama said. "But the key point that I emphasized to Tony and I'm emphasizing to all our coalition members is our task here is to help Iraqis help themselves."

Abbott agreed with Obama that the group is "a menace to the whole world."

The two leaders got off to a chilly start when Abbott, leader of the center-right Liberal Party, became prime minister in September 2013. They have since warmed to each other.

A senior U.S. official said that Obama also had a "brief encounter" with Russian President Vladimir Putin with no time "to cover issues." He also met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, calling his country a "model of tolerance."