Vice President Mike Pence made an unannounced trip to Iraq Saturday morning amid much tribulation in Washington D.C. over an impeachment inquirythat recently ensnared him and criticism that the United States had betrayed its Kurdish allies in the region.
President Trump announced last month that he would be withdrawing 1,000 U.S. troops from the Turkish border with Syria, a region populated by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that worked with the United States to stymie the spread of ISIS.
In response, Turkey immediately invaded northeastern Syria, causing Kurdish forces in the region to declare that the U.S. had betrayed its alliance with them. Soon after Pence traveled to Ankara to negotiate a temporary pause in the fighting to allow Kurdish forces to withdraw from the region.
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On this visit to Iraq, Vice President Pence attempted to smooth over some of the Kurds’ concerns — as well as Democratic and Republican lawmakers’ criticism — in a visit with Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq, and a phone call with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.
“My sense is that now with our troops in the region and in the air that Kurdish forces, Syrian Democratic Forces as well as the Kurdish population here in the region that the American people are with them,” Pence told reporters. “These are allies that fought shoulder to shoulder with us bravely to defeat ISIS.”
The trip to Iraq was kept secret for security purposes, according to a traveling pool with the vice president. It is Pence’s first trip to Iraq as vice president.
This is the first high profile visit from the Trump administration since the White House announced it would withdraw troops from Syria, creating a military power vacuum in the region.
The vice president arrived in the county with his wife, Karen Pence, where he was greeted by U.S. Ambassador Matthew Tueller, Lt. General Pat White, Colonel Daniel Leavitt, Sgt. Major Gerald Knight.
The surprise visit also comes on the heels of a tense few weeks for the White House as the House Intelligence Committee held a series of long public hearings as part of a broader Democratic-led impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
