The top U.S. military officer urged Iraqi leaders Monday to take steps to ensure the effectiveness of U.S. and allied security aid, calling for additional reforms to military leadership and pay systems and increased recruitment of troops to fight the so-called Islamic State, according to the Washington Post.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that seven months of airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition were achieving results against the Daesh, which is scrambling to defend multiple fronts.
During his visit, Dempsey heard the Iraqis express support for another of their military backers: Iran. Tehran’s increasingly overt role in supporting Shiite militias in Iraq has created more than a little anxiety in Washington.
Dempsey, who spent three years in Iraq during the war that began in 2003, said the long-term viability of the international coalition fighting the so-called Islamic State could be threatened if Iraq does not draw in Sunnis. He said some Sunni Arab nations in the alliance have raised concerns to him that Abadi’s government is not doing enough to help Iraq’s Sunnis.