US President called the IS as a grave threat to the national security of the United States and its allies and partners.

The authorization includes no geographic limitations, in keeping with the administration’s view that the group is seeking expansion beyond Iraq and Syria and with the Islamic State’s own claim to head a “caliphate” spanning the Muslim world.

It would give Obama the power to use military force “as the President determines to be necessary and appropriate” against the Islamic State or “associated persons or forces.”

The authorization would not permit “enduring offensive ground combat operations.” That provision refers to Obama’s pledge not to deploy ground troops in Iraq or Syria.

In an accompanying letter to Congress, Obama explained that the proposed legislation “would not authorize long-term, large-scale ground combat operations like those our nation conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Instead, he said, it would “provide the flexibility to conduct ground combat operations in other, more limited circumstances,” including rescue operations or targeted attacks on Islamic State leadership.

US troops could also be used to “enable” airstrikes, presumably through spotting and targeting on the ground, and to render “advice and assistance to partner forces.”

The approval would expire in three years, allowing a new president and Congress to decide whether it needs to be extended or expanded.