BAGHDAD — Vice President-elect Joe Biden assured Iraq’s prime minister Tuesday that the incoming administration won’t withdraw U.S. troops in a way that threatens stability, an Iraqi spokesman said.
Biden later traveled to one of the major threats to that stability — the northern city of Kirkuk. He urged rival Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen to make concessions to peacefully resolve their competing claims to the oil-rich city.
U.S. officials issued no statement about Biden’s meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which happened on the second and final day of his visit to Iraq.
However, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh quoted Biden as saying that President-elect Barack Obama is committed to withdrawing from Iraq in a manner that does not endanger the security gains of last year.
“He said that Obama is committed to withdraw, but he wants the withdrawal to be a responsible one,” al-Dabbagh said. “Obama does not want to waste the security gains that have been achieved.”
Although violence has declined sharply in Iraq, the U.S.military has warned that security gains are fragile and that extremists are likely to step up attacks ahead of this month’s provincial elections.
Iraqi officials on Tuesday acknowledged problems in determining how winners will be chosen in regional elections, raising concerns that electoral challenges could tarnish the key Jan. 31 vote.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have pinned their hopes on the balloting to unify the country’s fractious ethnic and sectarian groups. But confusion about the results could undermine that goal and provide a new source of tension.
Voters in 14 of the country’s 18 provinces will choose members of ruling councils, which wield considerable powers at the regional level. The vote is widely seen as a dress rehearsal for national parliamentary elections expected by the end of the year.
One of the most contentious issues is how to ensure the fair representation of women — with questions arising over how to implement a legally required quota system setting aside seats for them on the councils.
The vote for provincial councils is expected to redistribute power more equitably, thereby empowering minority Sunnis and defusing support for the insurgency.
But the process leading up to the elections in 14 provinces has highlighted lingering political tensions as Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties jockeying for power remained deadlocked on the elections law until finally agreeing to postpone the vote in the province that includes the disputed city of Kirkuk — the main stumbling block.
