Iraqi PM to focus on US troop withdrawal in Biden meeting

Weakened by pro-Iran factions at home, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi will meet with US President Joe Biden on Monday to discuss a possible full US troop withdrawal from his country.

Despite shared enmity on the part of the US and Shiite Iran toward a resilient Islamic State, Kadhimi is under intense pressure from pro-Tehran armed factions who demand the withdrawal of 2,500 US troops still deployed in Iraq. Most of the US soldiers, deployed in 2014 to lead an international military coalition against Islamic State, left under Biden's predecessor Donald Trump, who hosted Kadhimi at the White House last August.

Mardini points to"political costs" for Biden were he to authorise a full withdrawal of US troops, stemming from the catastrophic"legacy" of the 2011 withdrawal, which created a vacuum exploited by Islamic State during their lightning 2014 offensive. Islamic State today operates from mountainous and desert regions, activating cells for attacks including Monday's suicide bombing of a market in Baghdad's Shiite district of Sadr City that officially killed 30.ELECTION CALCULATIONS

Kadhimi will therefore also seek to secure a softening of secondary US sanctions relating to Iran when in Washington, to help Iraq honour crucial transactions with its neighbour and tackle the power crisis, according to Jiyad.

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