WASHINGTON, July 11 (UPI) -- Sectarian violence remains the most critical threat to Iraqi stability, but withdrawal of coalition forces would endanger the country even further, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said Tuesday.
"It is necessary both to stabilize Iraq and reduce sectarian violence," he said.
However, Khalilzad acknowledged in remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington that keeping troops in Iraq for too long would also pose a security threat.
"I am aware of the dangers of staying too long in Iraq as well as the risks of leaving too soon before success is ensured," said Khalilzad, but "a precipitous coalition departure would unleash a sectarian civil war" with neighboring states, he added.
A premature U.S. departure could result "in al-Qaida taking over parts of Iraq, recreating the sanctuary they once enjoyed but lost in Afghanistan," the ambassador said.
"If al-Qaida gains its foothold, it will be able to make the challenges of al-Qaida in Afghanistan look like child's play," Khalilzad said.
Khalilzad also announced discussions with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and head of U.S. forces in Iraq Army Gen. George W. Casey to begin the formation of a joint commission to work toward condition-based withdrawal of coalition forces.
"Both the coalition forces and Iraq agree that the goal is for Iraq to stand on its own feet," he said. "Danger exists in going too fast or too slow in withdrawing coalition forces."
While al-Qaida has weakened in the country, Iraq still remains susceptible to any divisions within the country promulgated especially by outside terrorist forces. Khalilzad noted Iran and Syria as posing specific threats to Iraqi stability.
By providing extremist groups with arms, "Iran has decided they are irreconcilably opposed to a stable, strong and democratic Iraq," said Khalilzad.
Khalilzad outlined steps to make the Iraqi forces more successful in dealing with sectarian forces independently. In the past year, Iraqi forces have grown from 168,000 strong to over 265,000, he said. By the end of the summer, seventy-five percent of those forces will be leading counter-insurgency operations.
Still, the contribution of U.S. forces to Iraqi independence and stability should not be underestimated, said Khalilzad, and he noted the successful elections of last year as proof that a democratic government could exist in the region.
Securing the confidence of Iraqis in their own army was also key, and setbacks have damaged the morale of the people, the ambassador said.
"Unfortunately, there have been instances in which Iraqi forces gave way or even cooperated with sectarian militia," said Khalilzad. He said Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki had made a purge of the Interior Ministry a priority in order to rectify such problems.
However, the government has had success particularly in turning Sunni Arabs away from collaboration with terrorist forces.
"Now the Sunni Arabs increasingly understand that the terrorists are not interested in the future of Iraq, and that al-Qaeda sees Iraqis as cannon fodder in an effort to instigate a war of civilizations," said Khalilzad. "More and more Iraqi insurgents are rejecting this cynical game."
Khalilzad urged the American people to maintain a strong commitment to a stable Iraq.
"None of the steps are easy, but all of them are doable," he said.
Debate over whether the initial invasion was justified was now irrelevant, Khalilzad said, because failure now in the region could be deadly, not just for Iraq, but for the world.
"A precipitous withdrawal would lead to ethnic civil war with the Kurds concluding that the Iraqi democratic experiment had failed and taking matters into their own hands," he said.
