Biden makes surprise visit to Iraq, seeking to bolster fight against ISIS
Remarks goad the country’s leaders to end partisan, sectarian squabbles
BAGHDAD — In an unannounced visit shrouded in secrecy, Vice President Joe Biden came to Iraq on Thursday for the first time in almost five years, hoping to help a weak prime minister and bolster the military campaign against the Islamic State.
The intense security and clandestine nature of the trip reflected the challenges Iraq still faces 13 years after the U.S.-led invasion. Biden arrived for the visit, which had been under discussion for months, at a moment when the country’s political leadership is mired in yet another crisis.
Biden planned to urge the Iraqis to put the good of their nation above sectarian, regional or personal interests as the country confronts a constellation of threats: militarily, from the extremists of the Islamic State; economically, from low oil prices; and politically, from the stalemate between Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and parliament over al-Abadi’s efforts to reconstitute his Cabinet.
After arriving at the U.S. Embassy by helicopter, Biden was driven to the nearby Government Palace to meet al-Abadi. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Secretary of State John Kerry have also made unannounced visits to Iraq this month.
Politics a distraction?
And in Saudi Arabia last week, President Barack Obama said U.S. officials had been telling their Iraqi counterparts that “they have to take the long view and think about the wellbeing of the country at a time when they’re still fighting” the Islamic State.
Biden last visited Iraq in November 2011, just weeks before the last U.S. troops in Iraq were scheduled to leave. In a solemn ceremony, Biden saluted Iraqi troops, trained and equipped with billions of dollars from the United States, saying he hoped they would safeguard the country.
Three years later, those forces disintegrated in the face of an onslaught from Islamic State fighters and the inability of a corrupt central government to support and supply them.
The United States has added nearly 5,000 troops in Iraq, and it is using airstrikes and providing logistical support to bolster the country’s slow campaign against the Islamic State, which still occupies large swathes of territory.
While the military campaign is showing signs of progress, U.S. officials fear that renewed political turmoil in the country could hinder it. In one example, enormous street protests led by Muqtada alSadr, a radical Shiite cleric, prompted al-Abadi to withdraw troops from the fight against the Islamic State to bolster security in Baghdad. The protests turned out to be peaceful, and the troops were returned to the front lines afterward. But U.S. officials said the episode showed how political turmoil can be a troubling distraction.
Biden gave a speech last year at the National Defense University hailing Iraq’s political class for rallying from defeats to create a strong and united government.
“Iraqi leaders can’t afford to lose that sense of political urgency that brought them to this point,” Biden said.
Aid needed
But since then, the political situation in Iraq has become so fluid that Biden’s team has sometimes been unsure whether officials he planned to meet with would still be in office when he arrived.
Iraq will need billions of dollars in aid to reconstruct parts of the country shattered by warfare. U.S. officials worry that the aid will not be forthcoming until donor countries see signs that Iraq’s politics are more settled.
As the military campaign approaches Mosul, a multiethnic and multisectarian city, delicate negotiations will be needed between the central government’s forces and those of the Kurdish forces in the semiautonomous north to determine who will do what, U.S. officials said.