US Vice President Mike Pence made an unannounced visit to Iraq today, intended to encourage Kurdish allies and visit US troops, reports AP.
This is the highest visit by a US official since President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of US forces from Syria two months ago.
Pence traveled on a military cargo plane to keep the visit secret and landed in Irbil to meet with Iraqi Kurdistan President Neshirwan Barzani.
The visit is intended to bolster US allies in the fight against Islamic State after the withdrawal of US forces from northern Syria, leaving US Kurdish allies in that country to fend off a Turkish offensive on their own last month.
Before Ibril, Pence was at Iraq's Al Asad Air Base, from where US forces are believed to have launched an operation in Syria last month against Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who blew himself up before a raid by US commandos.
Pence's visit to Iraq came at a time when the country was gripped by a wave of anti-corruption protests.
At least 320 protesters have been killed and thousands injured since the unrest began on October 1 when protesters took to the streets of Baghdad and across the country's mainly Shiite south to denounce widespread corruption and a lack of basic services despite the country's oil wealth.
The protests have shown long-simmering discontent over Iranian influence in the country, with protesters targeting Shiite political parties and militias with close ties to Tehran.
Pence spoke by phone with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi. Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi refused to meet him at the airbase because the US vice president did not travel to Baghdad for security reasons.
US Ambassador to Iraq Matthew Tueller said that Pence expressed his support for a free, sovereign and independent Iraq, in a veiled warning against Iranian influence in the country, which has weakened cooperation between the US and Iraq, AP reports.
Pence also encouraged the Iraqi government to show restraint towards the protesters.
"We want to see an Iraq that is free from the malign influence of Iran and that also respects the rights and voices of all its people," Pence said.
It is Pence's second visit to the region in five weeks.
Trump sent him to visit Ankara last month to negotiate a ceasefire with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose forces launched an offensive against Syrian Kurdish fighters in northern Syria shortly after the withdrawal of US forces from the area.
Pence said that on this occasion he wants to repeat on behalf of Donald Trump that there are strong ties between the US and the Kurdish people throughout the region.
He said that both the Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish allies, who fought alongside the Americans against the extremists of the Islamic State, have no doubt that the US is dedicated to them.
A senior US official said that Pence's visit was intended to provide support to the Iraqi Kurds, who are US allies in the fight against the Islamic State, as well as to Americans who have long supported the Kurds, that the Trump administration remains committed to that alliance.
The visit is also intended to show that Pence is focused on foreign policy while Washington is engulfed in drama surrounding the president's impeachment, AP reports.
Iraqi Kurdish leader Barzani thanked Pence for US military assistance against the Islamic State and said his visit at this time was an important indication of continued support for Kurdistan in Iraq.
American cooperation with the Iraqi Kurds did not change after the withdrawal of the Americans from northern Syria.
In neighboring Syria, after announcing the almost complete withdrawal of American forces, Trump decided to leave around 800 soldiers near the oil fields in eastern Syria to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Islamic State.
Pence said the US-Kurdish Alliance is intended to ensure that the Islamic State or another extremist group cannot regain a foothold in the area.
The US vice president, who arrived accompanied by his wife, also greeted US troops ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, serving the traditional turkey to hundreds of soldiers at two locations.
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