Time chose Abadi as one of "The 100 Most Influential People of 2018," because of the severe difficulties that the prime minister has faced from the moment he took over as Prime Minister in September 2014, in the face of a massive offensive by the Islamic State (IS).

Time editor at large, Karl Vick, wrote the piece.

“IS announced itself as a dread military force on June 10, 2014, the day it overran Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, as thousands of Iraqi soldiers fled for their lives. Three years later, the back of the terrorist group was broken by reconstituted Iraqi security forces that retook the city in a battle that lasted nine brutal months.

“U.S. air support was essential, but the grinding, house-to-house effort was carried out by Iraqi fighters who were commanded, ultimately, by Haider al-Abadi, the Prime Minister who came to power after IS controlled a great swath of the country. Al-Abadi selected the generals who took it back and made daily visits to the Baghdad joint command post as the battle for Mosul raged. The nation over which he presides remains as fractious as the forces that were marshaled to take back Mosul: from the elite Counter Terrorism Service, which bore the brunt of the battle, to the militias that identify by sect.

“Al-Abadi’s challenge is to make the searing war on IS a crucible for a renewed sense of nationhood and not another round of sectarian bloodletting. If he does, the victor will be Iraq.”

Time magazine's list for 2018 included many political figures, including US President Donald Trump, Crown Prince Harry and his American fiancée Megan Markle, Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and South Korean President Moon Jae-en.

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