The wheels of Western bureaucracy grind slowly while the tanks of jihad consolidate the caliphate

So the coalition of 20-odd nations addressing, in one way or another to one degree or another, the menace of the Islamic State, is going to gather in Washington next week to look at putting together a viable ground force:

The meeting will be hosted by Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, from Oct. 13 to 14, according to a U.S. military official who declined to name the countries sending representatives because many nations participating in the bombing don't want to publicly discuss their role. This is the first gathering of coalition military leaders, the official said. The coalition includes the United States, the U.K., France, Belgium, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. 

The gathering comes as the U.S.-led air campaign has carried out more than 350 strikes against the Islamic State, also known by the acronyms ISIS and ISIL -- for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant -- since President Barack Obama first ordered military operations against the group Aug. 8. Obama's emissaries, retired Marine Corps Gen. John Allen and U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Brett McGurk, are in the region to drum up support for creating a ground force and are scheduled to return to Washington Friday. 

While the strikes have blunted some advances by the group, the absence of a ground force to consolidate the gains and the lack of a clear strategy on what comes after airstrikes are hurting the coalition's effectiveness, according to Western officials involved in the coalition effort. 

Next week.  I'll bet the remaining 50,000 people remaining in Kobane feel like that's a rather ineffectual time frame.