In a recent interview, President Barack Obama continued to defend the U.S. strategy in defeating ISIS in the Middle East despite the fact that ISIS militants have expanded their territory and recently seized the Iraqi city of Ramadi.

While speaking to The Atlantic on Tuesday, Obama denied claims that the U.S. and its allies are fighting a losing battle against ISIS, an extreme terror group also known as the Islamic State. However, Obama did admit that more should be done to help Iraqi forces recapture the territory that they lost to the extremists.

"I don't think we're losing," Obama said not long after Ramadi fell to Islamic State fighters, which marked the group's biggest military gain in 2015.

"There's no doubt there was a tactical setback, although Ramadi had been vulnerable for a very long time, primarily because these are not Iraqi security forces that we have trained or reinforced," Obama added.

The president also reasserted his commitment not to deploy American troops on the ground in Iraq. Rather, he will continue to launch U.S.-led airstrikes while training Iraqi security forces to fight the ground war.

During the interview, Obama blamed the fall of Ramadi on the Iraq government's failure to build its forces, fortifications and command-and-control systems in an area dominated by Sunni-Muslims called the Anbar Province.

"There's no doubt that in the Sunni areas, we're going to have to ramp up not just training but also commitment, and we better get Sunni tribes more activated than they currently have been," Obama said. "So it is a source of concern."

On Monday, the White House downplayed the ISIS victory in Ramadi as a "setback" that will not alter Obama's foreign policy plan in combatting ISIS.

"There is no denying that this is indeed a setback," said White House spokesman Eric Schultz, according to The Hill. "But there is also no denying we will help the Iraqis take back Ramadi."

On the other hand, Republican war hawks have used the fall of Ramadi to criticize the president's strategy as being too soft. Republican Sen. John McCain even pushed for more U.S. troops on the ground.