Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi speaks during his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in New York September 19, 2016.
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“We assess today that the Iraqis will have in early October all the forces marshaled, trained, fielded, equipped that are necessary for operations in Mosul”, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Joe Dunford said at a military event in Washington.
The base, located some 65 km from the Daesh-controlled Iraqi stronghold of Mosul, will be repaired for the offensive, and provide runways and infrastructure for U.S. air support.
Abadi said ISIS must be “crushed on the ground”.
Obama’s meeting with the Iraqi leader marks the start of a hectic week of diplomacy as he makes his final appearance as president at the annual United Nations gathering.
It is unclear as to what kind of punishment IS leaders have planned for the elderly man, but the militant group has heinously punished people in the past for simply talking about the advances of the Iraqi military.
The northern Iraqi city, once the county’s second-largest with more than two million people, has been occupied by the Islamic State for more than two years.
Al-Abadi said the decision to extend the deployment was helping Iraq. Obama also discussed climate change, the global refugee crisis and terrorism during a phone call with Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“They will have all of the forces that they need and it will be a political decision by Prime Minister Abadi as to when operations actually are conducted”, Dunford said as he flew home from talks with USA allies in Europe. Last month, the head of the USA military’s Central Command voiced confidence that Iraq was on track to meet its objective, should Abadi choose to go forward as planned.
The defeat exposed deep flaws in Iraq’s military, but since then a USA -led coalition has sent military advisors and attack jets to bolster the government side. The militias have been accused of systematic abuses against Sunnis in previous battles against Islamic State including the June liberation of Fallujah, a majority-Sunni city.
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Shirqat has been surrounded by Iraqi troops and Iranian-backed Shi’ite Muslim militias allied to the government. 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. He said the United States needs to be ready to provide immediate humanitarian aid to the city, rebuilding it “in a way that assures not only ISIL does not come back, but that extremist ideology born out of desperation will not return”.
