WASHINGTON — Emerging from his first meeting with President Donald Trump, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Monday he was assured the U.S. will accelerate its support for his country’s struggle against the Islamic State group.
“I think they are prepared to do more” than the administration of President Barack Obama, he said. Obama was reluctant to commit large numbers of U.S. troops to combating IS in Iraq, but his approach, which relied on training and supporting local forces, has succeeded in pushing the militants out of much of the territory they once held.
Speaking at a Washington think tank shortly after his White House visit, al-Abadi said he got the impression that the Trump administration will take a more aggressive approach, although he did not say what that might entail.
“I think this administration wants to be more engaged in fighting terrorism,” he said. “I sense a difference in terms of being head-to-head with terrorism.” He added, however, that military force is not necessarily the most effective tool. “There are better ways for defeating terrorism.”
Asked whether he had seen specific Trump administration improvements to the previous administration’s approach, al-Abadi said: “To be honest, I haven’t seen a full plan. I know there is a plan. I haven’t seen it. We have our own plan.”
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis recently presented Trump with the outlines of a comprehensive approach to defeating Islamic State and other extremist groups on a global scale, but specifics are yet to be worked out. Officials have indicated that the approach is unlikely to depart radically from the Obama strategy, at least with regard to the ongoing efforts in Iraq and Syria.
Iran deal knocked
Al-Abadi appeared at the U.S. Institute of Peace, a federally funded think tank. The prime minister spoke optimistically of completing the recapture of Iraqi lands still held by IS. He said government forces, working effectively with Kurdish forces known as Peshmerga and supported by American air power and military advisers, are on the brink of fully liberating Mosul, the northern city that has been the Islamic State group’s main Iraqi stronghold since 2014.
In brief remarks in the presence of reporters during al-Abadi’s White House visit, Trump raised his frequently stated objections to the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor, but did not talk specifically about how he intends to support Iraq.
“One of the things I did ask is, ‘Why did President Obama sign that agreement with Iran?’ because nobody has been able to figure that one out,” Trump said. “But maybe someday we’ll be able to figure that one out.”
Trump said he hopes to address the “vacuum” that was created when IS moved into Iraq and added that “we shouldn’t have gone in” to Iraq in the first place.
