Biden says Iraqis have a long way to go
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Iraq early Thursday for talks about the future of American troops in the country as they prepare to leave at the end of 2011, but three explosions in the capital killing two people demonstrated the lingering security challenges still facing the country.
Biden’s unannounced trip marks the first visit by a top U.S. official since Iraq approved a new Cabinet last month, breaking a political deadlock and jump-starting its stalled government after March’s inconclusive elections.
Biden Thursday morning met with the top U.S. commander in Iraq General Lloyd Austin and U.S. ambassador James Jeffrey at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad’s highly-fortified ‘Green Zone.’
Asked why he’s in Iraq, Biden said: "I’m here to help the Iraqis celebrate the progress they made. They formed a government. And that’s a good thing. They have a long way to go."
Biden arrived from Pakistan in the Iraqi capital on Wednesday night, according to journalists travelling with him.
The White House said Biden would also meet President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, and Iyad Allawi, a secular politician who heads the Iraqiya bloc and won the most votes in Iraq’s elections last year.
The visit comes days after radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a potent force in Iraqi politics, exhorted a boisterous crowd to resist the U.S. "occupation" by all means in his first speech since returning home to the holy city of Najaf.
Nouri al-Maliki was approved for a second term by parliament on December 21 along with a national unity cabinet after over nine months of political deadlock.
Though combat operations have officially ended, some 50,000 U.S. troops remain in the country.
American soldiers are allowed to return fire in self-defense and take part in operations if requested by their Iraqi counterparts under the terms of a bilateral security pact.
3 bombs in Baghdad
One bomb exploded near the Husseiniya Shiite mosque in the Karrada neighborhood of central Baghdad, killing one person and woundibng four others, the official said.
Another went off near the Abdel Qadir Gilani Sunni mosque, also in central Baghdad, killing one person and wounding five more.
And a third bomb exploded near al-Assaf, a Sunni mosque in Adhamiyah in the north of Baghdad, wounding four people.
Violence in Iraq has declined dramatically since its peak in 2006-2007, but attacks still occur almost daily here.
Biden’s trips elsewhere
In Islamabad, also on an unannounced trip, Biden delivered a bold message of support for key anti-terror ally Pakistan, telling the country that America is "not the enemy of Islam."
As Biden wrapped up his visit, a suicide blast in the northwest town of Bannu killed 18 people, most of them security officers, and wounded 15 in an attack claimed by the Taliban as revenge for U.S. missile strikes in the area.
Biden said militancy in Pakistan was a threat to both countries, and he referred to the killing last week of Punjab governor Salman Taseer, who was shot dead by his bodyguard over his outspoken opposition to strict blasphemy laws.
The confessed killer has been hailed a hero by religious conservatives and rallies have been held across the country in his honor.
Before Pakistan, Biden visited Kabul, where he met Karzai for talks that included discussing the presence of U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan as part of an international force of some 140,000