(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday lauded the momentum in the efforts of the US-led coalition to free Iraq from ISIL, the Iraq's new defense capabilities and the tumultuous relationship between Iraq and Iran.
In an address to troops at the National Defense University, Biden said: "Everyone forgets there was a war, not but a decade before, where over a hundred thousand were killed, a way with Iran, their neighbor." "They don't want to be puppets dangling on a string of anyone's puppeteering in the region.
"It's only natural Iraq will have relations with all of its neighbors, including Iran. The history is too long, the border is too long, and it's a difficult neighborhood," he said.
The Vice President stressed that Iraq must now make its own "sovereign choices under the authority of elected representatives of an Iraqi Government." Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi will make his first visit next week to Washington where he and Biden will discuss "legislation designed to advance national reconciliation, including de-Baathification, continuing to mobilize and integrate and arm and pay Sunni forces - empowering local governance and planning for reconstruction in the liberated areas consistent with their notion of federalism," Biden indicated.
Biden also refuted claims that ISIL remains in a commanding position and that Iran and its proxies are leading the fight against ISIL and dominating Iraq.
"The claims do not reflect the circumstances on the ground. The claims do not respect and represent the circumstances on the ground. They don't reflect Iraq's progress against ISIL," he asserted.
The US is continuing to train Iraqi forces at four sites across the country in which 6,000 have already graduated and provided over 100 million rounds of ammunition, Biden noted.
Finally, Biden thanked the one million American soldiers that spent time in Iraq and "helped give Iraq another chance. Our mission now is to help the Iraqis themselves make the most of this."
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