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Updated: Sunday, April 5 2015, 05:21 PM CDT The fight to free Tikrit from ISIS may have been won but Iraq's struggle is far from over.

As troops get ready to liberate the city of Mosul. CNNs Arwa Damon sat down with the Iraqi minister of defense

Tikrit is being touted by Iraq and the US as a success. At least when it comes to the first phase of Iraq's war against ISIS.

But comparatively speaking, it may have been the simplest of battles the nation faces Damon: "the big question being asked right now is what's next?" Liberation of Tikrit has put us into the next phase to move to the north Ninevah and west Anbar. Theoretically the plans are set and we have majority of the supplies for such battle says Khaled Al-Obeidi of the Iraqi defense ministry.

Iraq's defense minister says its not just about having the military power to take Mosul. 'The battle for Mosul is unique, it's Iraqs 2nd largest city, and there are about 2 million people, we have to take this into calculation. The terrorist groups have announced it as the capital of the Caliphat. ISIS will fight fiercely for the city according to our intelligence they have tunnels and bunkers, they will fight in full force for Mosul.

Iraq's military units - at the request of the defense ministry are going through intense training with US advisers. Exactly what is it that these units are being trained on, are actually receiving because the us was here for close to a decade training up the Iraqi army, what failed then that is forcing us into this situation right now? Asks Arwa Damon.

The problem wasn't with the training it was with the building of the army and it wasn't built in a way to face the challenges at that time. It was built to be a conventional army but Iraq is facing terrorism where we have only one counter terrorism division, that's why it was built wrong says Al-Obeidi.

A mistake neither Iraq nor the region can afford to see happen again especially given how checkered the battlefield dynamics are. You have the Iraqi army, the Iraqi police, then you have the Hasdh Al-Shaabi, then you have the Iranian advisers, then you have the Americans in the sky. It's a lot of moving parts of nations that aren't necessarily natural allies and it puts the government and yourself as the minister of defense in a very tricky position because you have to balance these different interests that are coming together in this one area.

Of course it is an important subject and this is where you see the role of the commander. You have to deal with conventional forces and volunteers those volunteers come from everywhere, young and old, there is no connection between them. There are no regulations and rules controls them. It is a difficult and a big challenge to armed leadership

The time frame is contingent to the situation on the ground and whether or not Iraq can rise to meet that challenge.

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Iraq: With Tikrit Liberated, What's Next For The Iraqi Army?