BAGHDAD — Vice President-elect Joe Biden conferred Monday with Iraqi leaders after a trip to Afghanistan, capping a tour of U.S. battlefronts on a day when police reported bombings killed 10 people in Baghdad.
The four attacks were a reminder that major violence may still return, complicating the incoming administration’s plans to draw down troops in Iraq and focus more attention on Afghanistan.
Biden, a frequent visitor to Iraq as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met with President Jalal Talabani, Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi and deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh after arriving in Baghdad.
U.S. officials issued no public statement. But Abdul-Mahdi said they discussed implementation of a security agreement that took effect on Jan. 1. The accord sets a three-year time frame for the full withdrawal of American forces.
The Iraqis also stressed the importance of enhancing U.S.-Iraqi cooperation in fields other than security, the Shiite vice president said in a statement.
For his part, Biden renewed the U.S. commitment to Iraq and stressed the need to continue developing state institutions, according to the statement.
Biden and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham had dinner with the vice president-elect’s son, Beau Biden, and other members of the Delaware National Guard serving in Iraq, Biden’s staff said.
Biden’s trip to Iraq followed visits to Pakistan and Afghanistan last weekend, a little over a week before the Jan. 20 inauguration.
President-elect Barack Obama has promised to end the nearly 6-year-old war in Iraq and refocus U.S. military efforts on Afghanistan, where al-Qaeda-linked militants and the Taliban are making a comeback after initial defeats in the U.S.-led invasion of 2001.
But Obama has promised to consult his commanders and the Iraqi government before ordering withdrawals. American commanders worry that a quick departure could trigger more violence because Iraqi security forces may not be ready to take on more responsibility.
Monday’s spate of bombings largely targeted Iraqi security forces, which have increasingly been targeted as they take the lead in military operations. U.S. troops are assuming more of an advisory role under the new security agreement.
Another roadside bomb struck a U.S. patrol in eastern Baghdad later Monday, wounding two American soldiers, according to the military.
Also Monday, the U.S. military announced that an American soldier north of Baghdad and a Marine to the west of the capital died the day before in separate non-combat-related incidents. At least 4,226 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
