Biden, Iraqi Leaders Discuss US Withdrawal
By VOA News
13 January 2009
U.S. Vice President-elect Joe Biden is in Kirkuk on the latest leg of his trip to Iraq.
Biden is to speak with regional leaders in the northern city, where a political deadlock over the future of the oil-rich region has led to a postponement of local elections set for elsewhere in Iraq next month.
Earlier Tuesday, Biden met with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
The vice president-elect had no public comments after meeting with Mr. Maliki, but Iraqi sources report the talks emphasized a responsible withdrawal of U.S. forces.
Biden also plans to visit the northern city of Irbil to meet with the president of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, Massud Barzani, and other Kurdish leaders.
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has promised to remove the some 140,000 U.S. troops from Iraq within 16 months, more quickly than outlined in a recent U.S.-Iraq security accord worked out with the current U.S. administration of George Bush.
Vice President-elect Biden arrived in Iraq on Monday. He and President-elect Obama will be sworn in next Tuesday.
Also Tuesday, a pro-Kurdish Web site reported that both Turkish and Iranian forces shelled Kurdish areas in northern Iraq overnight. Kurdish rebels, who are trying to establish an ethnic-based autonomous region, have frequently come under Turkish attack, as well as sporadic Iranian fire.
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