US reaffirms support for Iraq's unification

Washington, May 6: The Obama administration reaffirmed its support for a united Iraq, voicing opposition to its Kurdistan region’s aspiration for independence. In a meeting with the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region’s President Masoud Barzani at the White House on Tuesday, President Barack Obama and his deputy Joseph Biden “reaffirmed the US’s enduring commitment under the Strategic Framework Agreement to a united, federal and democratic Iraq, as defined in the Iraqi constitution,” the White House said in a statement, Xinhua reported.

Barzani, whose regiol government once clashed with the central government in Baghdad on issues including oil, land and power-sharing, declared his intention last summer to call for a referendum on independence, when the extremist Islamic State group was making lightening advances in parts of Iraq. (IANS)