DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And I'm David Green in Paris, where Secretary of State John Kerry has just finished up a meeting with French President François Hollande. Kerry is the first high-ranking U.S. official to visit Paris after last week's attacks. He said that France and the United States are discussing what can be done to step up efforts to fight ISIS, referring to a series of terror attacks for which ISIS has now claimed responsibility.
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SEC OF STATE JOHN KERRY: My sense is that everybody understands that with Lebanon's attacks, with what's happened in Egypt, with Ankara, Turkey, with the attacks now in Paris, we have to step up our efforts to hit them at the core, where they're planning these things, and also obviously to do more on borders and in terms of the movement of people.
GREENE: Kerry spoke of increased airstrikes by both nations' armed forces and the apparent retaking of the Iraqi town of Sinjar by Kurdish forces with United States support. Using the Arabic acronym for ISIS, Secretary Kerry said the Islamist movement is feeling the pressure.
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KERRY: They're feeling it today. They felt it yesterday. They've felt it in the past weeks. We've gained more territory; Daesh has less territory. We've taken out leaders. We've liberated significant communities.
GREENE: And Steve, Kerry said that the French president is going to be heading your way to Washington next week to sit down with President Obama. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
