Only about 60 Syrian rebels are being trained by the United States to take on the Islamic State group, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Tuesday, admitting it was far below the number hoped for.
The disclosure is likely to add to criticism of the Obama administration's military strategy, with U.S. Senator John McCain saying that the United States was "losing" the fight against the extremists, who have overrun large areas of Syria and Iraq.
Several lawmakers including McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, grilled Carter and the military's top general, Martin Dempsey, on topics ranging from Ukraine to the Middle East.
America wants to train thousands of moderate Syrian rebels to fight IS forces, but Carter said only a few dozen had so far been approved for a program that is a central tenet of Washington's strategy to beat the IS group.
Carter said the U.S. was training about 60 fighters as of last week.