After a delayed response that enabled the Islamic State (IS) to rampage through much of the country, President Barack Obama’s administration has overcome its deep reluctance to get sucked back into the Middle East vortex. More than 4,000 US troops have now been deployed ever closer to the action, while US jets, drones and now Apache attack helicopters offer vital aerial support.

The beefed-up military presence and the US role in leading an international coalition is paying off as IS is on the back-foot across the country. After a slew of recent victories in Anbar province, US advisers are now helping Iraqis plan the recapture of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, possibly by the end of 2016.

“The trajectory is positive. [IS] has not had a major battlefield victory in over a year. It has lost 47% of its territory in Iraq and 20% in Syria,” Obama’s special envoy to the counter-IS coalition, Brett McGurk, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee June 28. “More important than percentages, however, is the strategic nature of the territory that [IS] has lost: nearly the entire border between Syria and Turkey, iconic cities like Ramadi, Tikrit and Fallujah, and all the major transit points between Raqqa and Mosul.”

Some Iraqis warn, however, that the United States must forge a deep strategic partnership in order to avoid a repeat of what happened after US troops departed in 2011. In an exit interview last month, Iraq’s ambassador to Washington for the past three years told Al-Monitor that he’s setting up a new venture to continue pressing for deeper ties.