“People tell me time and time again that they see their basic needs as being more than food, clothing and shelter,” said the sergeant, whose team is attached to Company B, First Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment. “They include electricity, water and sewage. And until the Iraqi government provides them with such basic services, they won’t trust them.”

Image Iraqis walk by a pile of burning trash in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad. Residents have complained to American soldiers about a lack of basic services. Credit... Joao Silva for The New York Times

Indeed, the Mahdi Army, the militia founded by Moktada al-Sadr, the anti-American cleric who holds sway here, has long used the delivery of aid and basic services as a means of building political influence.

“Through a ‘Hezbollah-like’ scheme, the Shiite Sadrist movement has established itself as the main service provider in the country,” notes a recent report by Refugees International, an advocacy group. “As a result of the importance of nonstate actors in the delivery of assistance and security, civilians are joining militias.”

Sadr City is so large and poor that large swaths have been in chronic disrepair, but the fighting inflicted further damage. Residents have repeatedly asked American troops during patrols why the garbage cannot be removed and basic repairs made in the areas the Americans control, especially since the most intense fighting appears to be over in these sectors.

The soldiers have stressed that they are not standing in the way of such efforts, and would also like them to begin.

But while the government has been willing to fix water, sewage and electrical lines in the past, officials say that it was still too dangerous for work to begin. The Iraqi government held a joint news conference with the American military on Sunday to promote their plans to help Sadr City, including $150 million to bolster the area’s infrastructure. But when pressed on the timetable for reconstruction, an Iraqi spokesman for the Baghdad security plan refused to estimate a starting date.

“We’re not saying we’re going to disperse supplies today, but once it’s stabilized we will work on these projects," said Tahseen al-Sheikhly, the security plan spokesman. “Because of security, there will not be any projects for a while.”