Islamist Radicals at War with US: Tulsi Gabbard

"What is so frustrating now as we look at the situation there, our administration refuses to recognise who our enemy is. And unless and until that happens, then it's impossible to come up with a strategy to defeat that enemy," Ms Gabbard, who recently returned from a two-week trip to India, told the CNN in an interview.

"We have to recognise that this is about radical Islam, this is as much a military war as it is an ideological war, and we've got to understand what that ideology is and challenge it, understand it so that we can defeat it and protect our citizens, protect the American people," she said.

"That's something that has to be done in order for us to look at places like Iraq, places like Syria, and places really, in different parts of the world, North Africa, Nigeria," added Ms Gabbard, who was sworn-in for her second term in the House of Representative last week.

She said this was not only about ISIS or al-Qaeda, but about an "overall threat" posed by the radical Islamist agenda that exists all around the world.

Ms Gabbard said she was upset that the President and the White House are not actually saying that this is a war that the Islamist extremists are posing against the US and against the West.

"We recognise who our enemy is, and come up with a strategy to defeat that enemy. Unless and until you recognize who our enemy is and understand them, then we won't be effective in defeating that threat and we're going to continue to see the kinds of tragic incidents that we've seen most recently in Paris," she said.

Ms Gabbard called a suspension of the Visa Waiver Program until this is brought under control and these borders are controlled, in particular between Turkey and Syria.

Ms Gabbard is from the Democratic Party of US President Barack Obama and represents the Congress from his home State of Hawaii.

PTI