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There has been a tendency by the international community over the years to leave Iraq to its own devices after helping deal with a major crisis, she said, without addressing the root causes of the crisis.

Such a scenario played out after the U.S. and its allies withdrew from Iraq in 2011, which Abdul Rahman says contributed to ISIL’s rise as various fissures inside the country were left to fester.

“When Iraq is in crisis and there’s something big going on, then there’s attention,” she said.

“Then whatever the problem was is kind of fixed. Not completely, but it’s patched up, and then Iraq will muddle through. But muddle through with a ton of problems that are bubbling away under the surface.”

Those problems are numerous right now, Abdul Rahman said, with ISIL insurgents prowling the country or languishing with their families in internment camps while more than 1.5 million people remain in refugee camps.

Ethnic and religious rivalries also continue to cause problems even as foreign countries try to exert their influence and many Iraqis have expressed frustration with the slow pace of reconstruction, which has manifested itself in protests.

Canada has provided foreign aid to help alleviate some of those problems, including the provision of services for refugees and internally-displaced people, which Abdul Rahman said was welcome.

But she suggested more is needed from the international community writ large, such as programs to support the children of ISIL fighters, many of whom remain stuck in camps with little hope for the future and run the risk of being radicalized.

“There isn’t a program that I’m aware of to at least look at the children,” she said.

“It’s things like that that I don’t think are being addressed, neither by the UN or the international coalition nor by national partners who are committed to the enduring defeat of (ISIL). Well, the enduring defeat also means looking at the ideology.”