KOBANI, Syria (AP) — A senior Kurdish official says the U.S. role in the fight against Islamic State militants in Syria’s Raqqa must not end with the liberation of the city but continue as a guarantor of its future stability.

Ilham Ahmed says the Kurdish-led effort to secure the city after liberation needs U.S. political and financial support.

Ahmed is the co-president of the Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led force currently fighting to liberate the Islamic State group’s self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa from the militants.

Speaking to The Associated Press in the town of Kobani in northern Syria Tuesday, Ahmed said if the Americans want to protect the security of these areas and their own country’s security, they must play a role in the rebuilding of Syria.