Atlanta ? An Iraqi infant with severe birth defects who was brought to an Atlanta hospital at the urging of U.S. troops underwent successful foot surgery Friday, doctors said.

The outpatient procedure on 5-month-old Noor al-Zahra addressed shortened tendons and tightened ligaments in her left ankle that forced her toes and heel to point downward.

Doctors don’t expect her to be able to walk, but the surgery should reduce her risk of injuries and allow her to wear shoes.

She will wear a pink cast for three weeks. She will then use a custom-made splint for a few months, said officials at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

U.S. troops were raiding a home in Abu Ghraib, a poverty-stricken district west of Baghdad, in December when they found Noor and noticed paralysis in her legs and a tumor on her back.

She was diagnosed with spina bifida, a condition in which the backbone and spinal cord do not close after birth.

The condition paralyzed her legs and caused other problems, including the foot deformity.