Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani has travelled to Washington. He will be received by US President Joe Biden at the White House on Monday. It is the first official visit to the US by al-Sudani, who has been Prime Minister of Iraq since October 2022. According to a statement from his office, there are a number of issues on the agenda that need to be discussed.

However, the question of the US military presence in Iraq will play an important role in the meeting between al-Sudani and Biden. In recent weeks and months, the Iraqi Prime Minister has repeatedly called for the withdrawal of around 2,500 US soldiers from his country. The troops are part of the anti-ISIS international coalition, which was founded in 2014 and is led by the USA. A further 900 US military personnel are stationed in Syria. Baghdad sees no need for their continued presence, as ISIS is considered to have been defeated.

Another central point on the agenda of al-Sudani and Biden is likely to be the planned large-scale invasion of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) by the Turkish state. Preparations for the large-scale attack against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have been underway for months. One target of the planned attack is the Gare region.