US Vice President Mike Pence has reached Iraq on an unannounced visit to US troops at the al-Asad airbase in Anbar province. The visit came amid weeks of escalating anti-government protests in Baghdad and across Iraq’s mainly Shia south.
On his first visit to Iraq, Pence also spoke on the phone with the embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi. Sources said that the two leaders discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relations and possible solutions to the current crisis in the oil-rich nation.
At Erbil, Pence told reporters that the US respected Iraqi sovereignty and that Abdul Mahdi reassured him that Iraqi security forces will not use force against peaceful protesters.
Pence also met Nerchirvan Barzani, president of the autonomous Kurdistan region in Erbil.
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