As U.S.-led offensives drive back the Islamic State group in Iraq, concern is growing among U.S. and U.N. officials that efforts to stabilize liberated areas are lagging, creating conditions that could help the militants endure as an underground network.
One major worry: Not enough money is being committed to rebuild the devastated provincial capital of Ramadi and other towns, let alone the Islamic State-held city of Mosul, the ultimate target in Iraq of the U.S.-led campaign.
Lise Grande, the No. 2 U.N. official in Iraq, said that the United Nations is urgently seeking $400 million from Washington and its allies for a new fund to bolster reconstruction in cities like Ramadi, which suffered vast damage when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces recaptured it in December.
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