Combat operations against the Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents that turned Mosul into a hotbed of violence are all but finished for the US army. Its focus is now shifting to the task of improving key services for the local population.

Captain Joe Himpelmann has spent much of the first six months of his one-year posting in Mosul employing Iraqis to lift rubbish off the streets, fix sewers and clear ground for new football pitches.

"We have learned and evolved our methods during eight years of persistent conflict and now have a depth of experience in the army in running civil aid projects," said Himpelmann, a veteran of Afghanistan, as well as Iraq.

"It's a key part of our counter-insurgency strategy."

All but a few US soldiers will pull out of cities, towns and villages on Tuesday under the terms of a bilateral security accord signed last year, giving the national army and police sole responsibility for security from July 1.

Himpelmann, from the 3rd Brigade 1st Cavalry Division, commands about 100 troops, but also has 800 Iraqi employees on his books, paid with US government cash allocated as part of the army's "non-lethal efforts to restore a sense of normalcy" in Mosul.

The aim is to target the young and unemployed Iraqi men seen most likely to be manipulated by insurgents into committing violence, and give them jobs.

"We've basically got to offer them a better deal than the enemy," said Captain John Bradley, also from the 3rd Brigade 1st Cavalry, during a visit to a possible new project site.

Bradley insists that such tasks, run in conjunction with the Mosul Baladia -- city council -- bolster rather than detract from the job he signed up for.

"I'm both," he said, when asked if he feels more like a project manager than a frontline combat leader.

Bradley and his fellow officers are keenly aware though that much aid money has been wasted in Iraq, and have until now patrolled the streets to make sure workers turn up and to confirm that contracted jobs have been done.

"I am into the (US) government for a cool million right now and I need to check that taxpayers' dollars are being spent properly," said Bradley, stressing that lessons have been learned on stopping fraud.

The US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) in January reported that corruption continues to plague the conflict-torn nation, and that billions of dollars sent to Baghdad ministries had gone to "ghost employees".

"I'm not running slave labour here," Bradley told one contractor summoned to a meeting after learning that some of his workers were being paid 8,000 Iraqi dinars (seven dollars) a day, instead of 15,000 dinars as agreed.

A key check against financial abuse is that the army only pays out when a contract is completed, which is often months down the line.

"I was quite a few people down today," Bradley said, referring to the number of workers, dressed in blue or orange boiler suits, he counted on the street.

"So the contractor will be paid less than he expected."

The June 30 withdrawal deadline prompted protracted negotiations between the US military and Iraq about the former's future role in Mosul, seen alongside Baghdad as the country's most violent city.

American soldiers will be allowed within the city limits, however, with senior officers noting that US vehicles will carry special identification markings from July 1.

A US military spokesman also told AFP that the civil aid programme would continue, but US soldiers visiting and inspecting project sites will require an escort from Iraqi security forces.

"We need to keep up a presence to check the work we are paying for is being done," Himpelmann said.

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