President Joe Biden plans to host Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani next month, a visit that comes as the countries hold formal talks about winding down the mission of a US-led military coalition that was formed to fight the ISIS group in Iraq.
The meeting is scheduled for April 15, the White House said Friday.
The leaders will “consult on a range of issues,” including the fight against ISIS and “ongoing Iraqi financial reforms to promote economic development and progress toward Iraq's financial independence and modernization,” the White House said.
The US in recent months has urged Iraq to do more to prevent attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria that have further roiled the Middle East in the aftermath of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The Associated Press said.
The US and Iraq, meanwhile, began formal talks in January about ending the coalition created to help the Iraqi government fight ISIS, with some 2,000 US troops remaining in the country under an agreement with Baghdad. Iraqi officials have periodically called for a withdrawal of those forces.
The visit will also come about a year after the kidnapping in Baghdad of Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli-Russian academic at Princeton University who is believed to be held by an Iran-backed militia, Kataib Hezbollah, that is regarded by Washington as a terrorist group and is seen as one of the most powerful armed groups in Iraq. It was formed during the power vacuum that followed the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, with support from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
