Washington: US President Barack Obama will host Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi next month and discuss political and security issues, including the campaign against militant group ISIL in the violence-torn country. Obama and Abadi's meeting would take place on April 14, the White House said.
"The Prime Minister's visit underscores the strategic partnership between the United States and Iraq and the strong US commitment to political and military cooperation with Iraq in the joint fight against ISIL," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.
The US-led coalition forces have been launching daily airstrikes on Islamic State, which is known by other acronyms such as ISIS or ISIL, and their targets in Iraq and Syria. The US forces returned to Iraq last year "to degrade and ultimately destroy" the dreaded militant group that has controlled large swaths of land in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.
"The President and Prime Minister will discuss a range of issues, including continued US support to Iraq to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL, the Government of Iraq's actions to address the needs of the Iraqi people and to strengthen cooperation between all communities in Iraq, and advancing a broad US-Iraqi partnership through expanded political, commercial, and cultural relations under the US-Iraq Strategic Framework Agreement," Earnest said in a statement.
President Obama has so far resisted any American soldiers on the ground to take on the ISIL directly. US troops withdrew from Iraq in 2011, after they invaded the country in 2003. But the US decided to return to the country to help the government troops there to combat the militants.
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