The Prime Minister of Iraq, Mohamed Shia al Sudani, has expressed his support for the indefinite extension of the approximately 2,000 U.S. Army and NATO forces in his country to protect the population, through mainly logistical operations, from the threat of the remnants of the Islamic State jihadist organization.
«I think we need foreign forces. The elimination of the Islamic State is something that is going to take time,» he explained in an exclusive interview with the ‘Wall Street Journal’ in statements that highlight the current Iraqi political reality, where the pro-Iranian forces have lost part of their historical support.
Al Sudani has clarified that the presence of these international forces should not have a combat character, but rather as logistical support for the approximately 900 U.S. military personnel fighting Islamic State cells in neighboring Syria.
Otherwise, the prime minister has expressed his desire to maintain with the White House relations as close as those between the United States and Saudi Arabia or other Gulf countries. «It is something we are pursuing and I don’t see it as impossible,» said the Prime Minister, for whom good relations with Iran and the United States, now irreconcilable enemies, are conceivable.
U.S. President Joe Biden «is different in the sense that he is fully aware of the situation in Iraq».
In this regard, the head of government intends to send a high-level delegation to Washington next month to try to arrange a face-to-face meeting with the US president, although the US State Department has not commented on the matter.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
