This evening, US President Joe Biden held a Phone call with the Prime Minister of Iraq, Mustafa Al-Kadhemi . This Phone call is Biden’s first telephone conversation with an Arab prime minister, and this indicates the prestigious position that Al-Kadhemi and Iraq enjoy with Biden, and this position did not come out of nothing, but rather as a result of Internal and external policies pursued by Mustafa Al-Kadhemi.
The phone conversation between Al-Kadhemi and Biden focused on supporting Iraq in the face of terrorism, and the United States’ training of the Iraqi armed forces.
Biden’s phone call came in the context of his respect for Al-Kadhemi’s internal and external policies. At the domestic level, Al-Kadhemi was keen to establish a state for the rule of law by fighting corruption and controlling uncontrolled weapons and limiting it only under the military and security institutions of the Iraqi state, as he refused to turn Iraq into an arena for settling scores.
As for foreign policy, Al-Kadhemi pursued an open-door policy with all neighboring countries and followed the diplomacy of official visits, such as his visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United State and Turkey, because he realizes that strengthening his diplomatic relationship with the regional and international environment strengthens Iraq’s role as a major player in the regional environment.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi said prior to his recent visit to Washington: “We do not play the role of the postman in Iraq.” This statement has its significance, meaning that Al-Kadhemi and the country represented by Iraq are not appropriate for them to exercise the postal clock, meaning that his role is limited to exchanging messages between Washington and Tehran, Riyadh or Tehran.
Rather, what befits Al-Kadhemi as prime minister of Iraq is to exercise the role of an honest mediator, because one of the advantages of this role is that political settlements or political detente between the conflicting countries benefit the country that practices the mediation role, in other words that if Iraq succeeds in this role, it will achieve many political, economic and security gains.
Iraq is one of the countries most keen to achieve regional stability, and this is what Mustafa Al-Kadhemi seeks to achieve through his belief in the principle of “everyone wins,” because he realizes that Iraq through experience is the first loser from the repercussions of the Iranian-US conflict, as it possesses a sound patriotic sense. It seeks to extricate Iraq from its internal and external dark tunnel.
The Iraqi Studies Unit