Kurdistan president welcomes Iraq's caretaker PM in Erbil

Iraq’s caretaker prime minister, Adil Abdul Mahdi, arrived on Saturday in Erbil on his first official visit to the Kurdistan Region since he took office in late 2018. He was welcomed on the tarmac by Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq’s caretaker prime minister, Adil Abdul Mahdi, arrived on Saturday in Erbil on his first official visit to the Kurdistan Region since he took office in late 2018. Just after landing, he was welcomed on the tarmac by Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani.

Abdul Mahdi was accompanied by a high-level ministerial delegation composed of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Fuad Hussein, Foreign Minister Muhammad Ali al-Hakim, Minister of Planning Nuri al-Dulaimi, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Qusay al-Suhail, and the director of the National Iraqi Intelligence Service Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Also traveling with Abdul Mahdi are his advisor, Abdul-Hussnayin al-Hanin, and deputy commander of Iraq's Joint Operations Command, Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yar Allah.

Kurdistan 24 has learned from a source familiar with the visit's schedule that key topics for discussion between the two leaders will be, unsurprisingly, ongoing anti-government protests and regional tensions following the US assassination of prominent Iranian general Qasim Soleimani and an Iraqi militia commander in Baghdad.

Related Article: Iraqi caretaker PM to make first visit to Kurdistan since taking office

Later in the day, Abdul Mahdi is expected to meet with Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Masrour Barzani, and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani.

Other issues leading talks, as indicated by the ministers in the delegation, include lingering disputes between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal Iraqi government, the KRG’s share of the national annual budget, oil and gas, security coordination in territories disputed by Baghdad and Erbil, and the nationwide census that is slated for later in 2020.

Following a near-total breakdown of ties between Iraq and the Kurdistan Region in late 2017, the governments have converged on a range of issues, especially after Abdul Mahdi came into office in late 2018, and have reached preliminary deals on some important issues such as oil.

Related Article: Erbil-Baghdad oil agreement to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020: Minister

Talks slacked in October 2019 as Baghdad’s focus shifted to dealing with anti-government protests that are still ongoing. This unrest was compounded after a series of exchanges between American forces, the Iranian military, and Tehran’s proxy militias on Iraqi territory.

Abdul Mahdi announced his resignation in late November due to mounting pressure from the demonstrations—which are wracked by violence as security forces and Iranian-backed militias have killed over 500 protesters and wounded over 20,000 others even as cases of assassinations and kidnappings of activists continue.

Since then, he has been acting as the head of a caretaker government as disputes continue over a replacement to be tasked with forming a new cabinet.

After the US killing of Soleimani, the national parliament voted on a resolution to expel all "foreign" forces from Iraqi territory. Notably, the only parties participating in the session were from camps opposed to the American presence in the country; Kurds and most Sunnis shunned it. Abdul Mahdi also attended the session and was deeply critical of the US operation in his remarks to the assembly.

On Friday, Abdul Mahdi said he had asked US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to send a delegation to Baghdad to lay a roadmap for an eventual withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

Read More: Iraqi prime minister says he asked US to begin planning withdrawal

Later that day, Pompeo affirmed that Washington seeks to stay in Iraq to continue to lead Coalition efforts against the so-called Islamic State.

Read More: US rejects Abdul Mahdi’s bid to discuss US troop withdrawal

Terrorist activity attributed to the Islamic State grew in the past week as Coalition and Iraqi forces redirected their focus to deal with the immediate concern of a significant ratcheting-up of hostile rhetoric and military action between both Iran and its proxies and, on the other side, the United States.

Editing by John J Catherine