WASHINGTON — Security in Iraq has improved consistently and dramatically in nearly every major category over the past three months, the most sustained period of such gains in nearly two years, according to the first Pentagon report to attempt to quantify recent progress in detail.
However, the report also makes clear that any progress could easily be lost unless improvements are made quickly in Iraq’s economy and its unreliable central government.
In addition, Iraq’s domestic security forces remain a source of concern, with their ability to secure their own country constrained by deficiencies in logistics and a shortage in command-officer ranks that “will take years” to rebuild, the report said.
The report, issued Tuesday, is one of a series of quarterly reports to Congress the Pentagon has been required to submit for two years. In the past, the evaluations have painted grim pictures of Iraq’s slide into chaos.
