After meeting Abadi in NY on Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama said he hoped for progress by the end of the year, and the top U.S. general later said Iraqi forces would be ready in October, but the timing would be up to Abadi.
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USA officials had earlier this year said it wouldn’t begin before the end of 2016.
Iraqi and United States 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.
Officials have warned for months of a humanitarian disaster inside, where residents living under Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s harsh rule say food supplies have dwindled and prices soared.
Dunford’s statement is the clearest sign from a senior U.S. military official that the military battle for Mosul could soon begin once the Iraqis make the political decision to proceed.
Iraqi commanders have indicated an operation to dislodge the group from the country’s second-largest city could begin by late October. The administration considers Abadi to be an improvement over the sectarian approach of predecessor Nouri al-Maliki.
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.
Pentagon planners have cautioned that the battle for Mosul could present a mixed picture for war planners, with Islamic State likely to retreat in some areas of the city only to reinforce in others. And in a phone call with President Kenyan Uhuru Kenyatta, Obama talked about refugee issues, terrorism and the upcoming elections. The U.S. told invited countries that they must show up with significant commitments in hand to resettle and support more people displaced from that country.
But he has struggled to contain them, as they reaped political and popular support following their battlefield success against Islamic State after the group swept through the country in 2014, seizing roughly one-third of its territory.
Prime Minister John Key meets Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi at the UN.
As a number of towns in Iraq, including the city of Fallujah, have been liberated from IS in recent months, Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed last week that IS has lost half its territory in Iraq thanks to Iraqi forces, which was aided by the us -led global coalition.
The United States alone now has 4,460 troops in the country, backed by hundreds more from Western allies, advising and assisting Iraqi and Kurdish forces.
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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.
