Dem senator: Baghdad must do more to unite country against ISIS

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) on Monday said that after nearly a year in office Iraqi’s government remains a “work in progress” and more needs to be done to unite the country’s ethnic groups against Islamic militants.

The government led by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, a Shiite, has brought about “dramatic changes” throughout the country but many, particularly the nation’s Sunni population, are “still waiting to see examples on the ground,” Kaine told reporters.

The Virginia senator, a member of the Senate Armed Services and the Foreign Relations committeees, led a congressional delegation to Kuwait, Iraq and Turkey over the July 4 recess.

{mosads}Kaine gave Abadi credit for trying to include the country’s Sunni and Kurdish minority in Baghdad’s decision-making following the “disastrous” leadership of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who resigned under pressure from Washington about 11 months ago. 

But “questions remain about the political ability” to successfully unify the various populations against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which still controls large swaths of the country, according to Kaine.

His comments came the same day President Obama is visiting the Pentagon to get an update on the U.S.-led effort against the terror group.

The administration’s strategy for fighting the group has come under intense criticism since the president announced last month that he would send an additional 450 military personnel to Iraq to help train Baghdad’s military forces.

The deployment brings the number of U.S. troops in Iraq to 3,550, though the White House has stressed that none will be fighting as “boots on the ground.” 

Kaine said lawmakers met officials in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan regional government, who were greatly appreciative for the U.S. airstrike campaign against ISIS.

He described the fight against the extremist group as going “meter by meter” but said the territory controlled by Baghdad and its allies has grown in recent months.

He added that there are still concerns about Iraq’s military forces “at the command level.”

In May, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said the Iraqi forces who were defeated at the provincial capital of Ramadi lacked the “will to fight.” But tribal fighters in Iraq had complained of not receiving any training or equipment from the central government.

Kaine also rejected the idea of splitting Iraq into three separate states to tamp down sectarian violence plaguing the country.

A “tri-parted country” is “not necessarily an improvement over” what’s happening in the country today, according to Kaine.

He said Abadi needs to “run an Iraq for all Iraqis.”