The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan overshadowed a summit in Baghdad on Saturday, a grouping of key regional leaders and French President Emmanuel Macron, who vowed that his country would stand firm in Iraq.
The meeting came as Iraq, long a casualty of militancy, tries to establish itself as a mediator between Arab countries and Iran.
“Given the geopolitical events, this conference has taken a special turn,” Macron told the summit.
Photo: AFP
He said his country would continue to deploy troops in Iraq to battle terrorism even if the US were to withdraw.
Washington has 2,500 troops in Iraq.
“No matter what choices the Americans make, we will maintain our presence in Iraq to fight against terrorism,” Macron told a news conference.
“We all know that we must not lower our guard, because Daesh [the Islamic State group] remains a threat, and I know that the fight against these terrorist groups is a priority of your government,” Macron said earlier after a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi.
Iraq and France are “key partners in the war against terrorism,” al-Kadhemi replied.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and Jordanian King Abdullah II flew in for the summit, also attended by the foreign ministers of regional foes Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Leaders from Qatar, Dubai and Kuwait also took part, along with the Turkish minister of foreign affairs.
Iraq is seeking to play a “unifying role” to tackle crises shaking the region, sources close to al-Kadhemi said.
The oil-rich country has been caught for years in a delicate balancing act between its two main allies, Iran and the US.
The Islamic republic exerts major clout in Iraq through allied armed groups within the Hashed al-Shaabi, a powerful state-sponsored paramilitary network.
Baghdad has since April been brokering talks between Riyadh and Tehran on mending ties that were severed in 2016.
“It was really not easy to put the Saudis and Iranians in the same room,” a French diplomatic source said.
An adviser to al-Kadhemi said that the presence of the two foreign ministers together was itself a “success.”
The Baghdad conference “will make it possible to lay the framework for cooperation in the fight against terrorism,” Macron said.
An Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Kabul on Thursday that killed scores of people, including 13 US service members.
The attack revived global concerns that the extremist group, which seized swathes of Syria and Iraq before being routed from the two countries, is emerging anew, analysts said.
The blast came during the final days of US-led evacuations from Afghanistan after the Taliban’s lightning takeover.
Macron also met separately with Qatar’s emir on a possible role its government — which has good contacts with the Taliban after hosting peace talks — in organizing further evacuations beyond tomorrow’s deadline set by Washington.
Macron told reporters that Paris was in talks with the Taliban through Qatar to “protect and repatriate” Afghans at risk.
France, which ended its evacuations from Afghanistan on Friday, had pulled out 2,834 people since Aug.17, he said.
It is now counting on Qatar to help organize further “focused” flights to evacuate “men and women whom we have identified and to whom we have given temporary [residence] permits,” Macron added.
France was part of a US-led coalition established to battle the Islamic State after it announced a “caliphate” in territory seized in Iraq and Syria in 2014. It has about 800 troops deployed in Iraq.
Baghdad declared the militant group territorially defeated in December 2017, but the group still retains sleeper cells and continues to claim bloody attacks.
One of the deadliest was a bombing last month that ripped through a crowded market in the capital, killing more than 30 people on the eve of Eid al-Adha.
Colin Clarke, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, said that the group “still has access to tens of millions of dollars, and will likely continue to rebuild its network throughout Iraq and Syria.”
Last month, US President Joe Biden said that US combat operations in Iraq would end this year, but that soldiers would continue to train, advise and support Iraq’s military in the fight against militants.
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