The ‘Biggest Strategic Concern’ About Mosul? Putting it Back Together After ISIS Loses. By Dan Lamothe, Washington Post
As leaders from across the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group meet in Washington this week, they are increasingly facing a crucial question: How will the coalition help the Iraqi government put the city of Mosul back together after it is taken back from the militants?
The city of some 2 million people has been the de facto capital of the Islamic State in Iraq for more than two years. Coalition-backed Iraqi troops have been fighting on Mosul’s outskirts for weeks as they seek to eventually retake it, but officials have yet to address what happens after the city is retaken — issues like how civilians will be cared for, neighborhoods will be rebuilt and improvised explosives sowed across the city will be found and rendered harmless.
Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said that the “biggest strategic concern” raised by defense ministers at a meeting of coalition defense ministers here Wednesday was that stabilization and efforts to bring governance to Mosul do not lag compared to the military campaign. The issue came up as Gen. Joseph L. Votel, the chief of U.S. Central Command, laid out what the next steps in the fight against will be, Carter said.
“Most of our conversation today was not, in fact, about the movements of forces, because that was planned a long time ago. And that’s going fine,” Carter said. “Most of our conversations today was… about what happens after the defeat of ISIL in Mosul. Stabilization plans, reconstruction plans and so forth. And we’re identifying the requirements there, which are large, because as General Votel indicated, it’s a large city.”…