Iraqi leader resists Turkish role in struggle for Mosul

BAGHDAD — U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s push for Iraq to let Turkey play a role in the Mosul battle encountered resistance Saturday from Iraq’s prime minister, who said his country’s forces will oust Islamic State the militants from the northern city.

“I know that the Turks want to participate, we tell them thank you, this is something the Iraqis will handle and the Iraqis will liberate Mosul and the rest of the territories,” Haider al-Abadi said through a translator after meeting with the Pentagon chief in Baghdad.

Iraqi, Kurdish and other local forces will handle the battle for Mosul, al-Abadi said.

“We don’t have any problems,” he said, adding that if help is needed, “we will ask for it from Turkey or from other regional countries.”

Carter, who arrived in Iraq on Saturday to meet with his commanders and assess the progress in the opening days of the Mosul operation, told reporters that the issue of a Turkish role in the military campaign is a difficult subject.

The U.S. role “is to work with our partners in the coalition and the Iraqi government to try to resolve issues like this and make sure that we’re all focused” on fighting the militants. “I am confident that we can play a constructive role there.”

One day earlier, Carter met with Turkish leaders in Ankara and said they had “an agreement in principle” for a Turkish role. Carter stressed at the time that any final decision would be up to the Iraqis, while expressing optimism the Turks and Iraqis could settle their differences.

His visit to Iraq came two days after a U.S. service member was killed outside Mosul, underscoring the risk that American troops are taking as they advise Iraqi forces in the fight.

Carter, who already has been to Iraq twice this year, has overseen the steady increase in the number of U.S. forces deployed to the fight and the growth of America’s effort to train and advise Iraqi troops. In his two earlier visits, Carter announced White House decisions to increase the U.S. troop level there. There was no such announcement Saturday, but Carter made it clear that the U.S. stands ready to do more.

Some 500 Turkish troops at a base north of Mosul have been training Sunni and Kurdish fighters since last December. The Iraqi government says the troops are there without permission and has called on them to withdraw. Turkey has refused, and insists it will play a role in liberating the city.

The U.S. service member killed this week was the fourth U.S. combat death in Iraq since the U.S. began military operations against militants in August 2014.