WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — In the longer term, however, the increased pace of counterterrorism operations in the European Union and the United Kingdom will diminish the Daesh’s external capabilities, the report noted.
"The group’s ability to plan and execute external attacks will not end with the fall of Mosul," the report stated. "That threat will likely persist — and may even increase in the near term — as the group continues to draw followers, even as its territory collapses," the report stated.
The report also criticized the Iraqi government for a pattern of corruption and oppression of minority groups such as Sunni Muslims, which threaten to keep creating pockets of resistance to provide new terrorist recruits.
"The inability of the Iraqi government to provide or encourage effective governance invites concern over variations of a theme seen repeatedly for years in Iraq; ineffective, corrupt, and even oppressive governance sparks local pockets of conflict which then metastasize to the benefit of terrorist groups like the Islamic State [Daesh] and al-Qaeda [also outlawed in Russia]," the report explained.
As a result, the report urged the authorities to temper any optimistic expectations after the liberation this week of the Iraqi city of Mosul, which was one of the Daesh’s main strongholds.
