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| Oil price drop hurting fight against Islamic State, Iraq’s prime minister says | Oil price drop hurting fight against Islamic State, Iraq’s prime minister says |
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| LONDON — Plunging oil prices have wreaked havoc on Iraq’s budget, and it cannot pay for the weapons, ammunition and equipment it needs to beat back Islamic State militants from large swaths of its territory, Iraq’s prime minister said Thursday. | LONDON — Plunging oil prices have wreaked havoc on Iraq’s budget, and it cannot pay for the weapons, ammunition and equipment it needs to beat back Islamic State militants from large swaths of its territory, Iraq’s prime minister said Thursday. |
| Iraq has asked the United States and its allies to defer payments on some munitions it urgently needs, Prime Minister Haider Abadi said at a conference of 21 nations most actively involved in combatting jihadi fighters in Iraq and Syria. With oil revenue responsible for 85 percent of the nation’s budget, Abadi said, the 40 percent drop in prices over the past year has been “disastrous” for Iraq’s government. | |
| “We do not want to see a reverse of our military victory due to our budget and fiscal problems,” he said, appearing at a news conference with Secretary of State John F. Kerry and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond at a conference of nations in the U.S.-led coalition against militants fighting on behalf of a group alternately known as the Islamic State, ISIL, ISIS and Daesh. “And we have been assured that every member of this coalition will stand [with] Iraq in its fight against Daesh.” | “We do not want to see a reverse of our military victory due to our budget and fiscal problems,” he said, appearing at a news conference with Secretary of State John F. Kerry and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond at a conference of nations in the U.S.-led coalition against militants fighting on behalf of a group alternately known as the Islamic State, ISIL, ISIS and Daesh. “And we have been assured that every member of this coalition will stand [with] Iraq in its fight against Daesh.” |
| Abadi said the Iraqi government has asked coalition forces to accept deferred payments for munitions and armaments and said the U.S. Air Force had already transported some weaponry from European countries, items he described as “free of charge from our coalition partners.” | Abadi said the Iraqi government has asked coalition forces to accept deferred payments for munitions and armaments and said the U.S. Air Force had already transported some weaponry from European countries, items he described as “free of charge from our coalition partners.” |
| “I’ve asked for more support,” Abadi said. “And I think my call didn’t go unnoticed.” | “I’ve asked for more support,” Abadi said. “And I think my call didn’t go unnoticed.” |
| His dire assessment of Iraq’s fiscal condition came as Kerry and Hammond said with confidence that allied forces had halted and in some cases reversed the momentum of the Islamic State. Kerry said almost 2,000 airstrikes had killed thousands of fighters in Syria and Iraq and forced Islamic State fighters to retreat from 270 square miles of territory it once controlled. | His dire assessment of Iraq’s fiscal condition came as Kerry and Hammond said with confidence that allied forces had halted and in some cases reversed the momentum of the Islamic State. Kerry said almost 2,000 airstrikes had killed thousands of fighters in Syria and Iraq and forced Islamic State fighters to retreat from 270 square miles of territory it once controlled. |
| Kerry said the coalition members were determined that those gains would not be jeopardized by Iraq’s inability to pay. | Kerry said the coalition members were determined that those gains would not be jeopardized by Iraq’s inability to pay. |
| “Let me assure you that this effort is not going to be deterred or diminished or defeated by virtue of the fact that we’re not going to get the supplies and ammunition necessary to carry it out,” he said. | “Let me assure you that this effort is not going to be deterred or diminished or defeated by virtue of the fact that we’re not going to get the supplies and ammunition necessary to carry it out,” he said. |
| Kerry noted that the United States recently delivered 250 MRAPs, armored vehicles developed to protect troops from mines and roadside bombs and now in surplus with the end of the war in Iraq and the troop drawdown in Afghanistan. Kerry also said that the United States is about to deliver a shipment of M-16 rifles. American teams are training 12 Iraqi brigades to retake the cities of Mosul and Fallujah. | Kerry noted that the United States recently delivered 250 MRAPs, armored vehicles developed to protect troops from mines and roadside bombs and now in surplus with the end of the war in Iraq and the troop drawdown in Afghanistan. Kerry also said that the United States is about to deliver a shipment of M-16 rifles. American teams are training 12 Iraqi brigades to retake the cities of Mosul and Fallujah. |
| Meanwhile Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel pushed back against recent comments from Abadi suggesting that international assistance has not come fast enough as his country battles the Islamic State. | |
| Abadi, in an interview to the Associated Press this week, said Iraqis were “almost on our own.” ‘There is a lot being said and spoken, but very little on the ground,” he told the AP. | |
| Hagel said that the United States had provided Iraq with valuable weaponry, including more than 1,500 Hellfire missiles in 2014, and was sending U.S. troops to advise and train Iraqi forces. | |
| “I do disagree with the prime minister’s comments. I would say even further, I don’t think they’re helpful,” Hagel said, speaking at a regular news conference at the Pentagon on Thursday. “We are doing everything we can possibly do to help the Iraqis.” | |
| The need to shore up battlefield gains comes as the coalition tries to focus on ways of confronting the growing threat posed by radicalized, homegrown extremists inspired to conduct lone-wolf operations. | The need to shore up battlefield gains comes as the coalition tries to focus on ways of confronting the growing threat posed by radicalized, homegrown extremists inspired to conduct lone-wolf operations. |
| The coalition conference was the first since the attacks in Paris two weeks ago that killed 17 people. More meetings will be held monthly to assess how the campaign is going and recalibrate strategy. Many European countries are stiffening their laws targeting foreign fighters. In Britain, for example, parliament is considering banning citizens from returning from Middle East war zones unless they agree to be monitored. Hammond said another goal is to counter the “twisted narrative” of militants through tools such as social media. | The coalition conference was the first since the attacks in Paris two weeks ago that killed 17 people. More meetings will be held monthly to assess how the campaign is going and recalibrate strategy. Many European countries are stiffening their laws targeting foreign fighters. In Britain, for example, parliament is considering banning citizens from returning from Middle East war zones unless they agree to be monitored. Hammond said another goal is to counter the “twisted narrative” of militants through tools such as social media. |
| “This conference is not just about military operations in Iraq,” Hammond said. “It’s about the other strands of this campaign as well. We’re very clear that undermining the narrative of ISIL, interdicting the flow of foreign fighters, stopping the flow of financial funding to ISIL, is as important as the military campaign itself.” | “This conference is not just about military operations in Iraq,” Hammond said. “It’s about the other strands of this campaign as well. We’re very clear that undermining the narrative of ISIL, interdicting the flow of foreign fighters, stopping the flow of financial funding to ISIL, is as important as the military campaign itself.” |
| Kerry described the fight against the Islamic State and other jihadi groups as “the challenge of our time.” | Kerry described the fight against the Islamic State and other jihadi groups as “the challenge of our time.” |
| “Their goal is to suppress and to take over and to expand a very nihilistic, unbelievably oppressive sense of how people ought to live,” he said. “And we’ve seen them carry it out in the most egregiously horrendous fashion — with public beheadings, they’re now threatening two Japanese hostages. . . . And we need to step up and lead and be strong and be clear of what’s at stake.” | “Their goal is to suppress and to take over and to expand a very nihilistic, unbelievably oppressive sense of how people ought to live,” he said. “And we’ve seen them carry it out in the most egregiously horrendous fashion — with public beheadings, they’re now threatening two Japanese hostages. . . . And we need to step up and lead and be strong and be clear of what’s at stake.” |
| Both Kerry and Hammond were scornfully dismissive of groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has urged like-minded Muslims to wage attacks in their home countries. | Both Kerry and Hammond were scornfully dismissive of groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has urged like-minded Muslims to wage attacks in their home countries. |
| The ultimate goal, Kerry said, was “defeating what Daesh represents, defeating Daesh as an idea, if it can be called that,” Kerry said, referring to the Islamic State. | The ultimate goal, Kerry said, was “defeating what Daesh represents, defeating Daesh as an idea, if it can be called that,” Kerry said, referring to the Islamic State. |
| Hammond said the West is in this fight for the long haul. | Hammond said the West is in this fight for the long haul. |
| “Most importantly,” he said of the conference, “we all confirmed our commitment to the struggle, however long it takes and wherever it leads us, to defeating the scourge of violent Islamist extremism.” | “Most importantly,” he said of the conference, “we all confirmed our commitment to the struggle, however long it takes and wherever it leads us, to defeating the scourge of violent Islamist extremism.” |
| Missy Ryan in Washington contributed to this article. |