This gives a more granular lifecycle status for the ICL than the simple up/down operational state, distinguishing an ICL that's still initializing, one that's actively passing traffic, one that has failed, one that is down, and one that isn't configured at all. An admin troubleshooting a flapping ICL benefits from seeing init(1) versus failed(3), since the former suggests a normal startup sequence while the latter points to an actual fault needing investigation. For example, a status of failed(3) combined with recent CFM fault flags would tell the admin the link went down abnormally rather than being administratively taken offline.