Baghdad – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Iraqi officials, includingthe speaker, on an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Wednesday, a statementfrom parliament said.
Pompeo’s talks, on the second leg of a key Middle East tour, come less thantwo weeks after President Donald Trump drew criticism for failing to meet asingle Iraqi official during a surprise Christmas visit to US troops.
The US top diplomat was in the Middle East to urge allies to continue toconfront the “significant threats” posed by Iran and jihadists despiteTrump’s surprise decision last month to withdraw all US troops from Syria.
Pompeo flew in from Amman and was also due to visit Cairo, Manama, AbuDhabi, Doha, Riyadh, Muscat and Kuwait City on his longest trip sincetaking office last year.
During his lightning, top secret visit to Al-Asad Air Base in western Iraqon December 26, Trump spoke with US commanders and a group of about 100mostly special forces personnel, accompanied by his wife Melania.
A planned meeting with Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi was scrapped andreplaced by a phone call, drawing a chorus of criticism, particularly frompro-Iran groups that form a key bloc in parliament.
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Trump used the visit — his first to US troops in a conflict zone sincebeing elected — to defend the withdrawal from Syria and declare an end toAmerica’s role as the global “policeman.”
Trump caused a political storm when he announced the pullout, insistingthe battle against the Islamic State group had been won, despite continueddeadly fighting between US-backed forces and the jihadists for their lastbastion in eastern Syria.
Trump has since rowed back, vowing the withdrawal would be done in a”prudent” way, and members of his administration have gone further, sayingthat the timeline of the pullout remains dependent on events on the ground.
Iraq declared victory over IS in December 2017 but the jihadists retain anetwork of sleeper cells in major cities and continue to conducthit-and-run attacks from mountain or desert hideouts. – APP/AFP
