Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani left Baghdad on Saturday for the United States, his office said, where he will meet with the US president as regional tensions flare.
US President Joe Biden is due to receive the Iraqi leader on Monday to “coordinate on common priorities” and discuss the “evolution of the military mission” of the US-led anti-extremist coalition in Iraq and Syria, according to the White House.
An aim of the talks is to establish “a timeline to end the coalition’s mission and transition to bilateral relations with the coalition member states,” according to the al-Sudani’s office.
A state department official, quoted on their website, said the US hopes the talks will also “focus on energy, water, business investment - US businesses investing in Iraq - and we want to talk about the private sector and the banking reforms that we have been working on.”
