Australian military chiefs have backed concerns about Islamic State spreading its influence outside Iraq and Syria.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has described the fight against IS, also known as Daesh and ISIL, as a "generational struggle".
She raised fears of Daesh becoming a cancer spreading across northern and central Africa, Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan and into south east Asia.
Australia's chief of joint operations David Johnston, delivering his latest brief on the Australian Defence Force mission in Iraq, said the consequences of Daesh's ideology spreading further were "quite significant".
"That is why the work we are doing with the coalition and Iraqi security forces is so important, to undermine Daesh's propaganda about being a caliphate and holding territory," he said.
Stopping Daesh's spread was also of concern because it was diverting military resources away from Iraq and Syria to places such as north Africa.
Vice Admiral Johnston said there were concerns small groups in Afghanistan were affiliating with Daesh but there were indications the Taliban ideologically opposed ISIL.
Daesh's evolution into a global terrorism network made it all the more important to make gains in Iraq, he said.
Iraqi forces had regained more territory and inflicted more losses on Daesh than they had suffered.
"The momentum, while limited in some areas, overall favours the Iraqi security forces."
Australia has almost completed the deployment of 300 Army trainers to Taji, northwest of Baghdad, where they and about 110 New Zealand forces will train Iraqi troops.
Vice Admiral Johnston dismissed the possibility of Shia militia being among the trainees, saying there were screening processes in place to ensure only Iraqi security forces were part of the program.
He also confirmed a report that a RAAF Super Hornet bomber had early in the Iraq campaign flown close enough to the battlefield to use its machine guns.
This meant it could have been shot at by Daesh forces on the ground.
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