US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday for a surprise visit to “reaffirm the strategic partnership” between the US and Iraq, the US official said on Twitter.
“Landing in Baghdad. I am here to reaffirm the strategic partnership between the United States and Iraq as we move toward a more secure, stable and sovereign Iraq,” the Pentagon chief said.
The visit comes as Iraq marks the 20th anniversary of the US invasion against Saddam Hussein’s regime. The offensive, launched on March 20, 2003 by US troops backed by an international coalition, opened one of the bloodiest pages in Iraqi history.
Baghdad has been the scene of intense diplomatic debate in recent weeks. The Iraqi leaders successively received the heads of diplomacy from Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia, before the visit, in early March, of the UN Secretary General, António Guterres.
Iraq is a staunch ally of Iran, yet it maintains very strong ties with Washington, particularly at the military level.
US troops continue to be deployed in Iraq as part of the international coalition led by Washington in the fight against the ‘jihadists’ of the Islamic State (IS) group.
The IS, which began to have a presence in Iraq in 2017, continues to claim responsibility for possible attacks that take place in the country and the international coalition continues to mobilize to prevent its resurgence.
At the end of 2021, Iraq announced the “end of the combat mission” of the international coalition, but the troops remain on Iraqi soil to play a training and advisory role to the Iraqi Armed Forces.
Source: TSF
