Iraqi leaders need to step up efforts to prevent an Islamic State comeback

The Islamic State may have been defeated on the battlefield, but the political and social grievances that spawned the extremist movement are still a long way from resolution in Iraq, said the outgoing commander of the Canadian contingent in the Middle East.

The war-battered country was plunged into a long round of sectarian bloodletting during the U.S. occupation — a nightmare from which it is only now slowly recovering, Brig.-Gen. Colin Keiver told CBC News in a recent telephone interview.

Over the long term, Keiver said, defeating ISIS once and for all will involve some form of reconciliation between Shia and Sunni Muslims in Iraq, in tandem with reconstruction and the restoration of basic services, starting with water and electricity.

“We see local community leaders … mayors or whoever, stepping up and leading and bringing people together to solve issues at the local level. It’s not happening as quickly at the national level,” Keiver said from Kuwait, where the Canadian mission headquarters has been based since 2014.

On Tuesday, the U.S.-led coalition overseeing the campaign against ISIS said it backed up Iraqi counterterrorism teams in an assault last week on extremist “sleeper cells” in the mountainous Wadi Ashai area in northern Iraq.

Last month, the Liberal government extended Canada’s military involvement in Iraq to the end of March 2021. The extension of the mission, which began in the fall of 2014, came as no surprise, since the Liberal government agreed last summer to lead the NATO training mission in Baghdad.

Canada provides 250 soldiers, a headquarters, security forces and transportation to as many as a dozen other alliance members training Iraqi forces to handle security on their own.

Separately and distinctly, Canadian special forces also are providing direct advice and assistance to Iraqi troops in the northern part of the country.

Source: CBC