WASHINGTON \u2014 As the situation in Syria grinds on and members of the global community consider increasing military action to fight the Islamic State group, a top US Senator today defended the US reluctance for large-scale military intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum, an annual event held in the Canadian city, Sen. Tim Kaine, an influential Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, acknowledged that “scar tissue” from the experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq were driving the US to look first for non-military solutions to geopolitical issuesfirst<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “When we lead militarily, we don’t always get the outcome that we hope that we would and we’re usually not appreciated,” Kaine said, referencing the experiences of the early 2000s. “The United States is not interested in being occupiers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, Kaine said, the US is trying to lead with non-military options. He pointed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a signature trade agreement for the Obama administration in the Pacific, as an example of how the US can lead on the global stage without resorting to force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We’re defining the American role in the world more broadly” than just as a military power, Kaine said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Appearing alongside Kaine at an early morning panel, Gen. Petr Pavel, the<\/span>Czech Army officer and<\/span> cC<\/span>hairman of the NATO Military Committee, concurred that non-military options need to be used to help solve the crisis in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The major lesson we have learned is that military tools only are not good enough to resolve complex crisis,” Pavel said. “Whatever we do in Syria needs to be addressed much more comprehensively than just military tools, and I see some potential for greater [interaction] between institutions and the different actors to bring new measures to resolving the crisis.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n