ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Martin Dempsey, head of the US joint chiefs of staff, arrived in Erbil for talks with Kurdish leaders on Saturday afternoon after making an unannounced visit to Baghdad earlier in the day. He was to meet Massoud Barzani, Kurdish president, Nechirvan Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, and Peshmarga leaders. In Baghdad, Dempsey met Iraqi and US officials, including Kuwait-based task force commander Lieutenant General James Terry. His visit to Iraq, his first since the US began air strikes against Islamic State militants in August, came as US chiefs are preparing an expansion of the military effort to dislodge ISIS, which occupies large swathes of territory since its advance across northern Iraq in the summer. “I want to get a sense from our side about how our contribution is going,” Dempsey told Reuters shortly before landing in Baghdad. “I want to hear from those actually doing the lifting that they’ve the resources they need and the proper guidance to use those resources.” The general, who last visited Iraq in 2012, told a congressional hearing last Thursday that Iraq would need about 80,000 effective troops to regain territory from ISIS. US President Barack Obama has authorised sending up to 1,500 more forces to Iraq, roughly double the planned US presence, to advise and train Iraqi and Kurdish forces. His visit came a day after Iraqi forces managed a significant victory against ISIS with the recapture the strategic oil refinery town of Baiji, north of Baghdad, and which the militants captured on June 12. “The loss of full control of Baiji is a significant blow to ISIS, and presents a key opportunity for the ISF [Iraqi Security Forces],” the Institute for the Study of War said. “Baiji is a strategic crossroads that connects ISIS routes across the border to Syria, southwest to Anbar, south to Baghdad, and east to the Hamrin Ridge. Its environs are thus a likely area for ISIS strategic command and control.” Dempsey said US efforts were aimed “enabling” Iraq’s plan. "We're going to need about 80,000 competent Iraqi security forces to recapture territory lost, and eventually the city of Mosul, to restore the border,” he said last week. An estimated 1,200 ISIS fighters were able to topple Mosul, which was supposedly protected by 60,000 troops — although the Iraqi army was rife with corruption, absenteeism and low morale after years of mismanagement and sectarian policies under former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. A big offensive next spring was unrealistic and the Iraqi army would need at least a year and a lot of US help to take on ISIS, Abdul Qader Obeidi, former Iraqi defence minister, told Foreign Policy magazine in a recent interview. “The reason is we used to fight pockets of resistance in the past, now you're going to be fighting a force that's holding an entire province,” he said. “At the same time, the most difficult battle is fighting in the cities. This requires specially trained forces.” Dempsey's spokesman, Air Force Col. Ed Thomas, said: "The primary purpose of his visit is to get a firsthand look at the situation in Iraq, receive briefings, and get better sense of how the campaign is progressing." The visit included talks in Baghdad with US Ambassador Stuart E. Jones and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, Thomas said.
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