U.S. depending on a 'milestone' Iraqi government to defeat ISIS

President Obama's military campaign against ISIS relies significantly on ground forces supplied by the Kurds in the north and by the new central Iraqi government in Baghdad.
Largely overlooked on Monday was how effusive the Obama administration was in praising the new government, even as many skeptics remain unconvinced that the new cabinet represents a turning point.

The BBC News reported that U.S. officials are hailing the creation of a new government in Iraq as a major milestone and a crucial step towards defeating the militant group ISIS.

Secretary of State John Kerry said the new Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's cabinet has the "potential to unite all of Iraq's diverse communities."

President Obama and Abadi have "agreed on the importance of having the new government quickly take concrete steps to address the aspirations and legitimate grievances of the Iraqi people," a White House statement said.

The new Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi greets members of parliament.

The US had made the approval of a unity government a condition for increased military assistance.

According to the BBC, Abadi, a Shia, named three deputies -- Hoshyar Zebari, the Kurdish outgoing foreign minister, Saleh al-Mutlak, a secular Sunni who held the same post in the last government, and Baha Arraji, a Shia and former MP.

Jim Muir of the BBC News, reporting from Irbil in northern Iraq, said the Obama administration is hoping the new government can start pulling Iraq back together, and provide a springboard for a national drive to root out ISIS militants. That can only work if the Sunni community can be persuaded that that is in their interests.

The obvious weakness is that the new government still lacks a defense minister and an interior minister.

As for the media reaction, some newspapers were skeptical of the new government while others agreed with the U.S. reaction that the new government represents a breakthrough.

Al-Bayan, a newspaper linked to the Daawa Party of former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, declared that "Iraq has entered a new era".

For al-Sabah, the approval of the government "under the new democratic system" is proof that "so far, we have successfully passed all the tests set by the political process".