ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish President Masoud Barzani discussed Erbil's political crisis with Baghdad as well as the upcoming Mosul offensive on Thursday with Frank Baker, the United Kingdom's ambassador to Iraq. "During the meeting President Barzani and ambassador Baker spoke of the political crisis in Baghdad and its effects on the Kurdistan Region, they both agreed that there ought to be a speedy resolution to the crisis," read a statement by Barzani's office. In the meeting, the statement continued, "Ambassador Baker also spoke of the operation to liberate Mosul and President Barzani reiterated his position that a political solution to post-Islamic State Mosul is as, if not more, important as the military operation itself." "The diversity of Mosul must be given careful consideration prior to the military operation and that the day after must be planned for the pursuit of the prosperity of the people of Mosul who have been terrorized by the Islamic State since June of 2014," Barzani said. Britain is among the multinational US-led coalition that has pledged to help defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria through carrying out supporting airstrikes and providing arms and training to forces fighting ISIS on the ground, forces which include the Kurdish Peshmerga. In November 2015 British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond told Rudaw that his country had sent large shipments of weapons to Kurdish Peshmerga forces and would send more in the future.
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