Jared Kushner, the son-in-law and top adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, has said during a visit to Iraq he is optimistic that the Iraqi military campaign to retake Mosul from Islamic State (IS) militants will be successful.
Visiting a base 16 kilometers from Mosul, Kushner said on April 4, "I hope the victory that you have in Mosul in the near future will not just be a victory for the American and Iraqi troops but it will be a victory for the world."
Kushner is traveling with Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Kushner also visited Baghdad and Irbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, during his two-day trip.
In Irbil, Kushner and Dunford met with Kurdish leader Masud Barzani and Masrur Barzani, the chancellor of the region's Security Council.
Barzani wrote on Twitter that the meeting was "productive" and said officials discussed the war against IS "and plans for the day after."
The trip has demonstrated the growing power of Kushner, 36, in the Trump administration. He has been given a wide range of domestic- and foreign-policy duties, including working on a Middle East peace deal.
