BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government insisted that it’s not up to the United States to negotiate over Iraq’s security with Syria as a delegation from the Obama administration arrived Wednesday in Damascus.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will make a trip to Syria next week to discuss security, the government said, calling the issue an internal Iraqi affair.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have long been concerned about the infiltration of foreign fighters across the Syrian border.
“It is not the duty of the American delegation to negotiate on behalf of Iraq,” spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told The Associated Press. “It is the Iraqi government that will directly negotiate on security with Syria.”
The remarks underscored emerging strains in the relationship between the Iraqis and the Americans as the balance of power shifts with the impending withdrawal of U.S. forces by the end of 2011.
U.S. combat forces already turned over urban security to Iraqi forces on June 30, focusing their efforts on the borders and rural areas.
U.S. officials dismissed concerns about a rift over this week’s talks in Damascus, which also were expected to deal with prospects for Mideast peacemaking.
“One of the issues that we continue to discuss with Syria is its efforts in terms of taking care of border issues on the Syrian side of the border,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
“We have had concerns, going back a number of years, regarding the infiltration of foreign influences from the region through Syria into Iraq.”
