LONDON: US President Joe Biden will discover a stronger and more confident Iraq during his Middle East trip this week, according to Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.
Writing for Foreign Policy magazine, the premier said that his country was now finding “Iraqi solutions” to “Iraq’s problems,” and that he would meet Biden as the leader of a more “resilient” Iraq.
Al-Kadhimi used his piece to ask the US as well as international partners to recognize and support the progress Iraq was making in a post-war, post-Daesh era.
Biden will meet with several regional leaders in the Kingdom on Saturday, including Al-Kadhimi, as part of his trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia.
In his piece, the Iraqi PM thanked the US for its assistance and support in moving the country away from “three decades of Saddam Hussein’s brutal dictatorial rule,” and toward a developing, multiparty and multiethnic democracy.
He praised the evolution of the Iraq-US relationship over the past two decades, which he said had moved from one based on security and the fight against terrorism, to a partnership revolving around societal and economical development in fields such as energy, climate, health, education and culture.
He also acknowledged that, following “political difficulties” arising from the latest elections in Iraq, more needed to be done to embed the democratic process in Iraqi public life.
However, Al-Kadhimi said that Iraqis had reason to be positive about their futures after the territorial defeat of Daesh, and that their country was “proactive regionally and internationally,” and “no longer a passive member of the international community.”
Al-Kadhimi added that Iraq was building bridges with partners in the region, including Jordan, Egypt and the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Growing ties are having a positive impact on Iraq’s development, he said.
Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday for a meeting with senior officials as part of his regional tour. He told Israeli TV that using military force to deter Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons was not out of the question “if that were the last resort.”
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