(VOVworld) - The US-led strategy to degrade and defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is working, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday, but emphasized that the fight against the terrorist group will be a “complicated, difficult contest.” In an exchange with reporters at the Pentagon after meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo, Hagel said the administration has repeatedly made it lear that the fight against ISIL will be a long, difficult effort. He said the US strategy against IS was working but acknowledged that progress in Iraq has been mixed.