The top US general later said Iraqi forces would be ready in October, but the timing was up to Abadi. An intensely hard urban fight to oust IS from Mosul is expected to ramp up in the next two to three months, following recent victories in reclaiming other Iraqi cities including Fallujah and Ramadi.
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Obama said he and Abadi have been focusing on retaking the city and the “challenging battle” that lies ahead.
Equally daunting to military planners is the prospect that the battle could displace some 1 million people.
The session set for Monday comes at a critical time for Obama, who has just a few months left to make progress against the Islamic State group before passing on the conflict to his successor.
Abadi in a news conference in Baghdad attend by Iraqi News, said, “We refuse dictate terms during our discussions with the International Monetary Fund and we put mechanisms and a plan to reform the economic system in Iraq”. To the Obama administration’s relief, Abadi has proven to be a more inclusive leader than his predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki, whose sectarian approach led many Iraqi Sunnis to see IS as a more welcoming alternative. Still, Obama said he and Abadi were confident that Iraq’s military and the USA -led coalition could make progress in Mosul “fairly rapidly”, adding that he was hoping for progress by year-end.
Obama also met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on the sidelines of the assembly, and the White House said they both condemned North Korea’s recent nuclear test. The Democratic presidential nominee was holding her own program of meetings with foreign leaders attending the United Nations summit as she works to portray herself as more presidential than Republican Donald Trump. And in a phone call with President Kenyan Uhuru Kenyatta, Obama talked about refugee issues, terrorism and the upcoming elections.
Abadi said ISIS must be “crushed on the ground”. A human rights advocate said the arrest of Afghan-born US citizen Ahmad Khan Rahami in connection with the bombings should not fuel the misconception that accepting more refugees will lead to more terrorist acts.
Iraqi forces readying to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group will be using artillery batteries provided by France, President Francois Hollande said Tuesday.
The IS group seized Mosul, Iraq’s cosmopolitan and religiously mixed second city, in June 2014 in a lightning offensive through the north and west of the country.
The pair also discussed the importance of rebuilding Mosul “in a way that assures not only ISIL does not come back, but extremist ideologies born out of desperation do not return”, according to Obama.
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Iraqi and U.S. officials are also concerned there has not been enough planning for how to manage Mosul, a mosaic of ethnic and sectarian groups, if and when ISIL is removed.
