The military says Defense Secretary Ash Carter “misspoke” when he told a Senate committee Wednesday the northern Iraqi city of Mosul would be “enveloped” by Iraq and Kurdish forces within five weeks.

Initially, U.S. military officials were scratching their heads about Carter’s testimony before the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, in which he appeared to be offering an overly optimistic timetable for the liberation of the de facto Islamic State capital in Iraq.