Iraq: Meeting the Challenges of 2010

Iraq must now move from elections to dealing with a host of major challenges. The Burke Chair has developed a briefing that highlights these challenges in terms of security, political accommodation, economics, and governance using material developed by the US country team, Department of Defense, Iraqi government, and the Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction.

This report is entitled Iraq: Meeting the Challenges of 2010, and is available on the CSIS web site at http://csis.org/files/publication/100311_Iraqin2010.pdf.

It shows major progress in security since 2007, but it also shows that Iraqi will need substantial outside aid and support through at least the entire term of office of the newly government. A US strategic partnership with Iraq cannot be passive on either the civil or military side. Iraq has emerged as a fully independent state, but it still faces serious challenges in terms of Sunni and Shi’ite extremists, Arab and Kurdish tensions, and recovering from nearly three decades of war and repression.