Task Force on Future of Iraq Releases Final Report
The Task Force on the Future of Iraq, convened by the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, has completed its year-long project to identify ways to support the Iraqis in stabilizing their state, facilitate the defeat of extremist groups like ISIS and building the basis for long term stability in the country.
Kawa Hassan, director of the EastWest Institute’s Middle East and North Africa program, was one of 20 experts invited to take part in the Task Force on the Future of Iraq. The Task Force was chaired by Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Executive Professor, Texas A&M University; Former Ambassador to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait, and Lebanon.
“It has been a tremendous honor to represent the EastWest Institute in this distinguished, policy-oriented group of recognized Iraq experts,” said Hassan. “It is with great pride that our recommendations on the paramount importance of good governance and real reforms—as preconditions to defeat ISIS and violent extremism—may add value to the security goals of Iraq and the wider region.”
Over the course of 2016, the task force brought together the world’s leading Iraq scholars, experts, and former policy practitioners to conduct a rigorous inquiry into how the United States could best protect its national security interests and promote Iraqi interests through targeted and effective engagement in Iraq. Task force experts traveled to Baghdad, Erbil, Sulaimani, Najaf, Amman, Berlin, and twice convened in Washington, D.C. to engage with Iraqi policymakers, civil society actors, and religious leaders.
Download the full report here.
Photo credit: "Kalar Castle" (CC BY-NC 2.0) by Joshua Zakary