Rinkēvičs was attending a meeting of countries committed to tackling the threat of Daesh, alongside defense minister Raimonds Bergmanis.
"It is important to ensure cooperation between the international coalition forces and other international players - NATO and the European Union," said Rinkēvičs.
"While there is no doubt that the coalition forces have currently weakened Daesh activities in Iraq and Syria, it would however be overly optimistic to say that Daesh will be defeated in a matter of weeks or months. The fight against Daesh is successful, but it will be long," Rinkevics said, citing terrorist attacks and bombings in various contries as evidence that Daesh is far from a spent force.
Ar kolēģi, aizsardzības ministru @RaimondsBrg pretISIS koalīcijas sanāksmē Vašingtonā pic.twitter.com/CypemYiYfC
— Edgars Rinkēvičs (@edgarsrinkevics) July 21, 2016
Latvia participates in four ways to tackling Daesh: via military means, strategic communications, cracking down on financing of terrorism and counter-terrorism. In January the Latvian parliament approved a decision for a group of Latvian military experts to help train the Iraqi armed forces within the framework of the coalition, which is part of the Inherent Resolve military operation.
The international community's involvement in Iraq and Syria should prepare for the post-conflict environment based on the rule of law and the strengthening of human rights in the region, the minister said.
Only such measures would stop the future recruitment of radicals to terrorist ranks, he said.
