Thirteen months ago, I asked General Allen once again to postpone his well-earned retirement from government service, including nearly 38 years in the Marines, where he served our country in the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, and beyond. I gave him an enormously complex assignment: to build from conception a robust international coalition that would undertake a wide range of political, diplomatic, military, economic and other efforts to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL.

General Allen has met that challenge with tremendous ability and courage. Thanks in large part to General Allen’s tireless work, today the United States is leading a 65-member global coalition that is rolling back ISIL’s territorial gains in Iraq and Syria, advising and assisting Iraqi Security Forces, constricting ISIL’s financing, interdicting the flow of foreign fighters, helping stabilize liberated communities, and countering ISIL’s heinous message.