US Renews Commitment to Support Iraq Stability
Arab World
Baghdad - Asharq Al-Awsat
The United States has renewed its commitment to support Iraq’s stability ahead of the second Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership, which will kick off its activities in Jordan’s capital Amman on Tuesday. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s media office said in a statement on Sunday that the PM received a phone call from White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk. McGurk congratulated Sudani on taking office and expressed the US continued support for Iraq’s stability, security and sovereignty. He echoed President Joe Biden’s willingness to bolster strategic bilateral ties. Sudani, for his part, stressed that Iraq is a unified, independent and a sovereign country, noting that the priority of his government is to maintain balanced relations and create economic partnerships across the region and the world. According to the statement, both officials agreed on the importance of continuing efforts to ensure the permanent defeat of ISIS and supporting Iraq’s role to build bridges among regional countries. Sudani said he plans to send a delegation headed by the Foreign Minister to Washington to promote both countries’ common interests in line with the Strategic Framework Agreement. Discussions will tackle energy investment in Iraq and the fight against the effects of climate change. US Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski has met with Sudani about six times since he took office in October. The PM has been keen to underscore the importance of building balanced relations with everyone based on common interests. Last week, the Premier participated in the China-Arab summit, which was hosted by Saudi Arabia and attended by Arab leaders and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The first Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership was held in the Iraqi capital in August 2021. Media Professor at Iraq University Dr. Fadhel al-Badrani told Asharq Al-Awsat that the second edition of the conference aims to mitigate the external challenges facing Iraq at the security, political and economic levels and ease the food, medicine and energy security challenges. He underlined the importance of the upcoming event in supporting Iraq's sovereignty from Iranian and Turkish regional threats. Badrani said both countries have launched attacks against rebel organizations that hide in various areas in Iraq, stressing that the bombing violates Iraq's sovereignty. He pointed out that the US and France are coordinating with Arab countries that were alarmed by Iraq’s inability to protect itself from external violations and decided to hold this conference, which will be attended by Iran and Türkiye, in an attempt to impose diplomatic resolutions and highlight their violations of Iraq’s sovereignty. “The US does not want regional countries to control Iraq and is keen to maintain understanding, coordination and cooperation with Sudani’s government.” Head of the Political Thinking Center Dr. Ihsan al-Shammari told Asharq Al-Awsat that Washington’s continued support for Baghdad reflects its priority for the Biden administration. He asserted that this support is part of a US plan to prevent Sudani and his government from resorting to Iran like the former PM, Adel Abdul-Mahdi. He added that the US has a strategic interest in securing energy sources for Europe, and even for its allies in Asia, prompting more communication, in addition to security and terrorism challenges. “This communication is a clear message to Iran that Iraq's affairs are not left to it to expand its influence, as it did with the previous governments.” In addition, Shammari said that Sudani and supporters of his government, especially the Coordination Framework forces, are aware that the era of anti-US rhetoric is over. Therefore, the PM decided to send a delegation to Washington to kick off talks in line with the Strategic Framework Agreement signed by the government of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and then-US President Barack Obama and assess the presence of US forces in Iraq.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4052041/us-renews-commitment-support-iraq-stability
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