US vows ‘unshakeable’ support for Baghdad

Washington DC – US support for the government in Iraq will remain “unshakeable” in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), despite some Iraqi officials courting Russia to conduct airstrikes in the country, the State Department said.

“Our support to the Iraqi Government is unshakable and it will remain unshakeable as we continue to go after this very deadly enemy,” State Department spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at a daily briefing on Wednesday.

Washington’s vow to support Baghdad came as more voices emerge within the Iraqi government and parliament, urging Prime Minister Haider Abadi to request Russian airstrikes.

Kirby praised the work done by Abadi on the political and military fronts and rejected that Washington “lacks will” to fully rally behind Abadi’s government against the group that is also known as ISIL.

“Nobody lacks the will. And I think any assertion that the United States lacks the will is completely false and erroneous. That doesn’t mean, however, that we’re not going to continue to support Prime Minister Abadi in the great work that he’s doing both politically and militarily against ISIL. That support will continue and it will continue energetically,” Kirby added.

Despite harsh criticism of Abadi by Iraq’s Kurds and Sunnis for lack of real representation, the State Department praised his government as being “inclusive and participatory and representative of all Iraqis.”

General John Allen, the US special envoy to the coalition fighting ISIS, arrived in Baghdad Tuesday to discuss developments in the war with senior Iraqi officials. His arrival came amid growing concerns in Washington that Moscow will start airstrikes in Iraq, as it has done in Syria.