Kerry meets Iraqi PM Abadi in Baghdad
US Secretary of State John Kerry has visited Iraq to purportedly show support for the country’s government grappling with a political crisis and battling the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group.
Kerry met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, and the prime minister of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, Nechirvan Barzani, on Friday.
Kerry told journalists in Baghdad on Friday that the US and Iraq will "turn up the pressure" on Daesh.
"In the coming weeks and months, the [US-led] coalition will work with Iraq to turn up the pressure even further. We will continue targeting and taking out [Daesh's] leaders, and we will train local forces to take and hold more ground," he said.
The trip will "underscore our strong support for the Iraqi government as it addresses significant security, economic, and political challenges," US State Department spokesman John Kirby said earlier on Friday.
According to Kirby, the secretary of state, who is visiting Iraq for the first time since 2014, will "discuss the coalition's continued support for Iraqi-led efforts against" Daesh terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government.
The terrorists now control large parts of Iraq and Syria. They are engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control.
However, Iraq’s armed forces have retaken some key towns and villages, including Tikrit and Baiji in Salahuddin Province and the city of Ramadi, the capital of the western province of Anbar.
Iraq’s economy has also suffered by the plunge in global oil prices that has shriveled its main source of revenue.
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