American in Paris

Defense Secretary Ash Carter is in Paris today, meeting with French officials and representatives from other countries in the coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

In a brief statement ahead of the "Counter-ISIL Small Group Defense Ministerial," Carter touched on the coalition-supported, Iraqi government offensive to retake Mosul. According to his prepared remarks:

Ten days ago, the Iraqis launched the operation to retake Mosul, and are on their way to collapsing ISIL's control over that city. This battle has been a long time coming, but it was important for our partners to take the time to build their capacity, to plan, prepare, and posture the right forces, and to incorporate lessons learned from previous battles in the campaign. It's also critical that the Iraqi Security Forces are in the lead...with every country operating with full respect for Iraqi sovereignty.

Carter, who before France was in Iraq over the weekend, said he was "encouraged by the results of the Mosul operation thus far -- it's been proceeding according to plan. And while we know it will continue to be a tough fight -- indeed, we'll probably see more resistance as the fight goes on, and almost certainly as our partners approach the core of the city -- I'm confident the Iraqi Security Forces will succeed."