Baghdad/Washington: Abdul Latif Rashid was elected as the President of Iraq following the Iraqi Council of Representatives election. President Rashid named Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as the Prime Minister-designate.
The United States welcomed the election of Rashid today, as Iraq’s political leaders formed a new government after more than a year of government formation negotiations. A year ago, Iraqis voted in credible early elections with the hope that they would result in a government that reflects the will of the Iraqi people. Since then, Iraq’s leaders have been unable to resolve their political differences. The US said it supports a broad and inclusive dialogue to forge a common path forward.
“We encourage them to bear in mind the will of the Iraqi people, who voted for a government responsive to their needs,’ Ned Price, Spokesperson of the US Department of State, said in Washington.
It may be mentioned that widespread protests in October 2019 caused the resignation of then-PM Adil Abdul-Mahdi and his government. After a lengthy period of government formation, the government of PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi came to power in May 2020. Sporadic, sometimes violent, protests continued, especially in the country’s south. Iraq held national elections in October 2021. However since then, Iraq’s leaders had been unable to resolve their political differences, and the government formation process continued into 2022.
The security environment, including the threat of resurgent extremist groups, has remained an investment impediment in many parts of the country. Other lingering effects of the fight against ISIS included major disruptions of key domestic and international trade routes and the negative impacts on respective economic infrastructure. Many militia groups that participated in the fight against ISIS remain deployed and were only under nominal government control. Militia groups were implicated in a range of criminal and illicit activities in commercial sectors, including extortion.
Besides, given the presence of Turkish forces in the country, when the Iraqi government called for a total and complete withdrawal of Turkish forces from Iraq, the US stated on July 6, 2022, that such foreign forces were in Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi Government, consistent with the principle of Iraqi sovereignty. On the same day, the Iraqi foreign minister said that Iraq will ask the Security Council to vote on a resolution that pushes the Turkish forces out of Iraq.
The US said it reaffirmed its position that military action in Iraq should be – should respect Iraqi sovereignty, should respect Iraqi territorial integrity.
The security situation varied throughout the country and is generally less problematic in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR). Iraqi security forces continue to carry out counter-terrorism operations against ISIS cells throughout the country. Terrorist attacks within the IKR occurred less frequently than in other parts of Iraq, although the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), U.S. government facilities, and Western interests remained possible targets. In addition, Iran-aligned militias threatened U.S. citizens and companies throughout Iraq.
As recently as September 7, 2022, US Assistant Secretary Barbara Leaf was in Iraq where she expressed US support for Prime Minister Kadhimi’s call to hold a constructive dialogue to help resolve the current political and economic crisis and urged all parties to attend. She was focused on advancing US support for Iraq’s sovereignty, stability, and security; and this included working to advance the US -Iraq Strategic Framework Agreement to support areas in which both could collaborate together, including energy, education, and infrastructure as well.
Her visit followed a statement by the President of Iraq on August 30, 2022, where he talked about holding new elections, saying that could be a way out of the political impasse. On the same day, Muqtada al-Sadr – an Iraqi politician and militia leader who joined his Sadrist political party to the Saairun alliance in 2018 and won the highest number of seats in the 2018 and 2021 Iraqi parliamentary elections – called on his supporters to end their protests, just a day after his loyalists stormed the Iraqi Parliament in protest of a new candidate for the Prime Minister. This prompted the US to declare that now was the time for all parties to resolve the current impasse.
Besides, there is an oil and gas dispute between Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and on August 6, the Foreign Relations Committee in the US Senate asked the Secretary of State Antony J Blinken to urgently engage both to resolve the dispute.
Today, the United States urged all parties to refrain from violence and to resolve differences amicably and peacefully through the political process. It reiterated its commitment to partnering with the people and government of Iraq to advance their “many shared priorities”.
– global bihari bureau
