Current anti-ISIS “strategy to me feels like, as long as you can replace an ISIS flag with an Iraqi flag, you are finished,” Pregent stated, while noting that political demands for a quick success are guiding the current retaking of Mosul. Atlantic Council Senior Resident Fellow Nussaibah Younis said that President Barack Obama wants to “wrap up the liberation of Mosul in a neat little bow to end his presidency with a bang, which is not really how counterinsurgency works. You cannot kill an insurgency; you have to transform an insurgency. You have to reduce the drivers that inspire people to join these groups.”

Source: What Will Donald Trump Face in Iraq? – Philos Project – 1/6/2016.