Inclusive political dialogue needed

In less than two weeks, armed rebels led by an al-Qaida splinter group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, have taken over a large part of northern Iraq.

Although it seems to have been unexpected to the Shiite-led Iraqi government and the international community, what is happening in Iraq is a natural outcome of years of poor handling of relations between the Sunnis, the Shiites and the Kurds, the untimely withdrawal of United States forces, as well as the ongoing three-year-old Syrian civil war that is serving as the breeding ground for the militants.

The US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 broke the once delicate balance of the country's political structure and further amplified the hostility between the sectarian groups, making it even harder for the ensuing Iraqi governments to achieve national reconciliation.