Biden on surprise trip to Iraq

AFP-US Vice President Joe Biden was visiting Iraq Thursday in a surprise trip just days after US forces completed their pullout from Iraqi cities, the White House said.     

Biden’s trip came just after President Barack Obama asked his vice president to take on a new role overseeing the US departure from Iraq and Washington’s effort to promote internal political reconciliation there.

"Vice President Biden has arrived in Iraq to visit US troops and to meet with Iraqi leaders, including President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Speaker of the Council of Representatives Ayad al-Samarrai," the White House said in a statement.

It added that in his talks with Iraqi leaders Biden would renew the US commitment to complete the terms of the US-Iraqi accord governing the future role of US forces in Iraq and continue the drawdown of US troops.

"He will discuss with Iraq’s leaders the importance of achieving the political progress that is necessary to ensure the nation’s long-term stability," the statement added.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told AFP he greeted Biden at Baghdad airport as he landed.

It is Biden’s first trip to Iraq since he was sworn in as vice president in January, but he previously made repeated trips to the country when he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee.

The White House said Tuesday that Biden would work closely with General Ray Odierno, the top US commander in Iraq, and US ambassador to Baghdad, Christopher Hill, as US forces prefer to leave for good by the end of 2011.

"The vice president has been asked by the president to oversee the policy," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Biden would work with Iraqis "toward overcoming their political differences and achieving the type of reconciliation that we all understand has yet to fully take place but needs to take place."

"Given his knowledge of the region, the number of times he’s been there, he’s perfectly suited for this type of role," Gibbs said.

But Gibbs said an idea once put forward by Biden, of dividing Iraq’s Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish communities into a federation of autonomous zones, was not on the table for the Obama administration.

He said the vice president’s role would likely include travel to Iraq and also meetings with the key players on US Iraq policy.

Biden’s new portfolio had been rumored for several days, and Gibbs confirmed the reports on the day that US troops withdrew from the center of Iraqi cities and towns under an agreement with the Baghdad government.