During a speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Wednesday, President Obama unveiled a $5 billion "terrorism partnership fund" to help different countries fight back against radical extremist groups.

The president announced that he plans to ask Congress to support the establishment of a Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund (CTPF) during his commencement speech at West Point.

"These resources will give us flexibility to fulfill different missions including training security forces in Yemen who have gone on the offensive against al Qaeda; supporting a multinational force to keep the peace in Somalia; working with European allies to train a functioning security force and border patrol in Libya; and facilitating French operations in Mali," said Obama, according to Time.

Obama said the fund would be used to funnel vital resources to help tackle fallout from the ongoing civil war in Syria. Over the last three years, extremist Islamist groups have settled in the country hoping to seize power while the regime of President Bashar Assad fights against opposition forces.

"With the additional resources I'm announcing today, we will step up our efforts to support Syria's neighbors-Jordan and Lebanon; Turkey and Iraq-as they host refugees, and confront terrorists working across Syrian borders," Obama said.

The fund would also allow the Department of Defense to improve and expand counterterrorism training and assist other stable governments around the world in their "efforts to counter violent extremism and terrorist ideology," said the White House.

In addition, Secretary of State John Kerry appeared on a number of TV news programs Wednesday morning to defend the president's decision to reduce U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan by the end of the year.

"This is not an abandonment of Afghanistan," Kerry said on NBC's "Today" show, reports the AP. "This is an emboldenment. This is an empowerment of Afghanistan."

Kerry explained that Obama is telling the Afghans "by a specific time they have to take over management of their own security and military."

He added that the message to Afghanistan is "we're not going to give you all the time in the world. You have to push the envelope."