The issue focused on what the United States is doing on the ground to try to prevent the spread of the Islamic State and its radicalization.

A senior State Department official described the meeting as a "very substantive, productive conversation about the challenges we face" and a "good example of how you can work with a partner who is also willing to go beyond the political discourse to work with an institution that's been at the center of this conflict."

"I don't think it is a political conversation,"