WASHINGTON, April 14 (KUNA) -- Attacks and violence have decreased "significantly lower" during the past six months than they have been in a number of years, commander of US forces in the Mosul area Army Colonel Gary Volesky affirmed Tuesday.
In a video link from Iraq, Volesky told reporters at the Pentagon that the insurgencies still were able to conduct operations in Mosul due to three main reasons, the first was "that there was an ineffective provincial government that didn't represent the majority of the population in Nineveh. And they did nothing, really, of any measure to improve the people's quality of life." He added that "the ISF, all the Iraqi security forces, they were still developing, getting more and more capability, but they were unable really to handle the threat that (Al-Qaeda in Iraq) AQI and the other insurgents were able to do while attacking Mosul," and that "there were fewer coalition forces here in Mosul." "As we continue to clear more and more neighborhoods, what we've seen is the enemy has two choices: They can fight, or flee," he stressed.
The Commander indicated that an assessment is being conducted at the present time with the Iraqi counterparts to determine what the way ahead is for security in Mosul.
He affirmed that based on that assessment, "a decision will be made what we will do on 30 June." Volesky noted that If the Iraqi government believes "we should stay in Mosul to continue the security progress, we'll support our Iraqi counterparts past 30 June and continue to build on the momentum that we've got here." "If we're -- if the decision's made that we leave, then we'll go into the Nineveh province at large and continue supporting Iraqi security forces," he added.
He stressed that according to this assessment the US combat soldiers will stay in Mosul after June 30th, saying "If the Iraqi government wants us to stay, we will stay ... it's the Iraqis' decision." A senior U.S. commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno was quoted saying on Sunday that a decision on withdrawing American forces from Iraq's major cities by a June 30 deadline will be made by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki along with the advice of the American military. (end) si.bs KUNA 142249 Apr 09NNNN