The destruction of the Shia mosque is indicative of the harm done to the ties between different ethnic and sectarian groups in Jalawla; a side effect of the war being fought against Isis across both Iraq and Syria.
Indeed, the troubles he is hoping to solve are those that stymied three previous ambassadors and President George W. Bush: political reconciliation between different ethnic and sectarian groups; a hydrocarbon law that will provide revenue to all of Iraq; and, tied to both knotty problems, a resolution of the disputed border between the Kurdish region and the rest of Iraq.
"But the reconstruction, the disarming of the militias, the reconstituting of trust between the different ethnic and sectarian groups — all that is going to take a very long time, and I think it would be foolish to assume that we know what Syria will look like".
Though they did not suggest a specific date by which the troops should go, the agreement will focus minds, in both Baghdad and Washington, on the endgame for foreign forces in Iraq.The Cairo conference, aimed at reconciliation between Iraq's different ethnic and sectarian groups, took place under the auspices of the Arab League.
These underlying Arab-made structural problems include corrupt and incompetent governance, weak citizenship, brittle statehood, and a severe lack of cohesion among different ethnic and sectarian groups within countries.
The army "is made up of various sectarian groups and its political commanders are divided along different political lines of loyalties," said Imad Salamey, a professor of political science at Beirut's Lebanese American University.
But the sectarian groups had other ideas.
It also has Christian and other smaller sectarian groups.
Provisions are in place for power sharing among Lebanon's various sectarian groups.
The link-up with sectarian groups has given the Taliban a national network.
