The vice president traveled here from Iraq, where he paid a surprise visit Thursday to meet with Iraqi leaders about their political crisis and the campaign against the Islamic State group.
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“The vice president has been the point person on Iraq for the administration since the beginning”, said an unnamed USA official traveling on Biden’s plane.
“The Vice President will also be discussing steps the global community can take to promote Iraq’s economic stability and further regional cooperation”, the statement continued.
Biden, as a USA senator in 2006, proposed dividing Iraq into semi-autonomous regions for Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis. Biden thanked some of those troops and American diplomats during a visit to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, where he alluded to the deep sectarian divides still plaguing Iraq long after U.S. -led forces toppled the late dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.
In summer 2014, the terror group ISIS swept into the country, taking large swaths of land, including the city of Mosul.
“This is my 27th or 28th, I don’t know how many, times”, Biden said before his meeting with Jabouri.
Though there’s been progress in wresting back territory from IS and weakening its leadership, senior USA officials travelling with Biden said any lost momentum will likely be due to political unrest rather than military shortcomings. “The bigger danger you have to hedge against is that”.
“It’s real, it’s serious, and it’s committed”, Biden said as he met with Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri, a Sunni politician facing calls from his colleagues to resign.
USA officials would not put a timeline on reclaiming Mosul but said they expect progress to slow during the summer.
Obama now acknowledges that his goal of defeating the militants won’t be realized during his presidency.
Biden’s visit follows several major announcements in recent weeks regarding America’s role in stepping up the fight against ISIS. Defense Secretary Ash Carter also said he would send Apache attack helicopters to the country. The Obama administration has stepped up the US military role with more troops and equipment, but the USA worries that infighting in Baghdad is jeopardizing hard-fought gains with President Barack Obama set to leave office in January. In both cases, US personnel will support local forces by acting as trainers and advisers. Officials said the stop was planned before Iraq’s political system descended into turmoil, hindering US -led efforts to defeat extremists who control parts of both Iraq and Syria.
The official emphasized recent gains in the fight against ISIS, saying the group “doesn’t enjoy freedom of movement like they used to”. Still, “there’s no substitute for being able to sit down face-to-face”, a USA official said. “And where we have dedicated local forces with coalition support, ISIL loses”.
Iraqi forces with US help are preparing to try to take back from IS the city of Mosul, barely 50 miles away from Irbil.
“It is fundamentally important that we promote greater empathy in society, and not remain indifferent to our neighbor’s cry for help, including when he or she is suffering from a rare disease”, the pope said.
Biden said he and al-Abadi discussed “plans in store for Mosul and co-ordination going on with all of our friends here”.
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Carter hinted at a congressional hearing on Wednesday that preparations are well underway, saying the USA and Iraqis are focused on “collecting and positioning, before Ramadan commences, the forces for the envelopment of Mosul”. Chaotic politics aren’t new in Iraq, but the present infighting risks becoming a distraction, with politicians more focused on keeping their jobs than fighting IS, said the officials, who weren’t authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity.
