Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) -- While the U.S. says the fight against Islamic State may take years, Iraq’s prime minister said he urged President Barack Obama to make the airstrikes “quick and decisive” so Iraq doesn’t become like Pakistan or Yemen.

In an interview yesterday, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said a prolonged military conflict would draw new fighters to Islamic State, further endanger civilians and complicate his efforts to unify the country based on a more inclusive central government.

Abadi said maintaining Iraq’s sovereign authority over airstrike decisions is important to avoid the kind of situation in Yemen and Pakistan where the U.S.“will hit any target they see fit, and that can lead to mistakes.” In those countries, U.S. airstrikes against militant targets have been blamed for civilian casualties, stirring a popular backlash.

The U.S. opened its air campaign against Islamic State in Iraq last month, and expanded the strikes to Syria this week. More than 190 airstrikes have been waged so far in Iraq, according to the Pentagon, part of an effort to drive back the extremist group, which has seized swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq.

During the interview with a small group of reporters in New York, Abadi said that Iraq doesn’t want U.S. or other foreign forces taking a combat role on the ground.

“I can say happily that President Obama has the same conviction as myself,” said Abadi, who met with his U.S. counterpart on Sept. 24 in New York, where both were attending the United Nations General Assembly. “There is no way he would allow boots on the ground.”

Assistance Welcomed

Even so, Abadi said Iraq would welcome military assistance such as advisers and trainers already present from the U.S., U.K., France and others nations including Iran.

“Iran sees ISIS as a threat to them as we see it is a threat to us,” said Abadi, using an alternate name for Islamic State. “I welcome their input and, of course, the Americans and the British and the French and everybody else.”

Abadi said he expects Iraqis to be able to handle the ground combat, as they have around Samarra, once the airstrikes break the psychological advantage the militants have held through their brutal tactics.

“They have conquered cities by fear without a fight,” Abadi said. “And they are controlling the people by fear. So one important element of this fight is to be powerful enough to inflict fear in the heart of your enemy and to raise the morale of our fighters.”

Special Forces

While Abadi ruled out foreign combat forces, some military analysts doubt Iraq’s capabilities and say that U.S. special forces or others may be needed. The Iraqi army has been weakened by poor leadership, corruption and sectarian tensions, although a U.S. assessment found some units combat capable.

During the interview, Abadi also expressed his aim to overcome the political and ethnic divisions that threaten to tear Iraq apart.

Abadi, a political leader among the majority Shiites, said he plans to work to overcome issues with Kurds and Sunnis, while asserting they face “hard decisions” as well.

He said it will be up to Sunnis, with support from the central government, to expel the extremists from their areas.

Abadi has proposed establishing a national guard that would provide eventually a formal structure for Sunni security control over Sunni areas, avoiding clashes with largely Shiite military forces. The political price for this, Abadi said, is that the Sunni forces under local command must be ultimately be subject to the national leadership.

‘Criminal Gangs’

Once Islamic State is defeated, “we need forces on the ground to hold these areas,” Abadi said. “If we don’t do that, I think criminal gangs will take over and other terrorist smaller groups will take over.”

Abadi had tough terms for the largely autonomous Kurdish regional government, which has complained it’s owed billions of dollars in oil-revenue sharing by the central government.

Abadi didn’t say whether he favors maintaining the current deal, which promises the Kurds 17 percent of the federal budget. That is a figure arbitrarily set in 2004, he said, citing a list of grievances about the Kurds, who have flirted with seceding.

“I am prepared to take hard decisions, Kurdistan must take hard decisions as well,” Abadi said. “Are they part of Iraq or not. If they are part of Iraq, there must be give and take -- part of Iraq is not one way.”

Share Fully

“If you look at Kurdistan, the way they have been dealing with Iraq is one way -- they are getting the 17 percent, there is nothing from the other side,” he said “There is no federal control on the borders, no federal control on the airport, we don’t get anything from customs duties” collected by the Kurds that are supposed to be federal.

“That relationship is wrong,” he said. “It is only based on the federal government giving their share from the budget, but they must have a duty” to share fully if they are part of Iraq.

Giving the Kurds a bigger share of the federal budget or allowing direct Kurdish oil exports would jeopardize support in the southern oil region around Basra, whose energy production provides 95 percent of the government’s finances, Abadi said.

“If I become unfair to them, by tilting towards the Kurds, I can lose Basra,” he said. “I cannot afford to do that. Basra is vital.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Terry Atlas in Washington at tatlas@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net Michael Shepard, Justin Blum