- BAGHDAD: As the White House eagerly highlights the departure of US combat troops from Iraq, the small army of American diplomats left behind is embarking on a long and perilous path to keeping the volatile country from slipping back to the brink of civil war.
Among the challenges are helping Iraq’s deeply divided politicians form a new government; refereeing long-simmering Arab-Kurd territorial disputes; advising on attracting foreign investment; pushing for improved government services; and fleshing out a blueprint for future US-Iraqi relations.
US President Barack Obama also is banking on the diplomats — about 300, protected by as many as 7,000 private security contractors — to assume the duties of the US military.
That includes protecting US personnel from attack and managing the training of Iraqi police, starting in October 2011.
The Iraq insurgency, which began shortly after US troops toppled Baghdad in April 2003, is why the US only now is entering the post-combat phase of stabilizing Iraq.
“Regardless of the reasons for going to war, everything now depends on a successful transition to an effective and unified Iraqi government and Iraqi security forces that can bring both security and stability to the average Iraqi,” says Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In his view that transition will take five years to 10 years.