On Wednesday, retiring US Army General Ray Odierno said the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants is at a stalemate and if the US military does not see progress in the coming months it should consider putting support troops on the ground with Iraqi forces.
"We will let Gen. Odierno’s comments stand… we’ve long said that having US combat troops on the ground in Iraq is not the solution, it must be a local military force and there must be a political solution," Smith said.
In 2011, the US finished the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq. Since then, Washington has publicly insisted it would not have a combat role in the Arab country.
Meanwhile, the US has been sending troops to Iraq, at the invitation of the Iraqi government, to advise and assist local forces in an effort to counter the recent advance of the notorious ISIL militant group.
In June, the US opened a fifth training site in the country.
In July, about 3,000 US-trained Iraqi soldiers took militants' positions around the city of Ramadi in central Iraq. Pentagon spokesman, Col. Steve Warren, said the deployment of two US-trained brigades was significant because the troops were well-trained and better equipped than many other Iraqi army units.