U.S. Plans Diplomatic Offices in Four More Iraqi Cities
(Reuters) -- The United States is establishing consulates or branch embassies in four sensitive cities key to Iraq's future as it ends its combat role and boosts diplomatic activity, U.S. officials said on Monday.
U.S. consulates are being established in Basra, near the key oil port of Umm Qasr, and Arbil, Kurdistan's capital, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Michael Corbin said.
"These consulates provide a recognized important diplomatic platform for all the types of programs that we want to do now and that we'll want to do in the future," he told a briefing.
"One is in the Kurdish region in the north and the other is in Basra, which has enormous economic importance being close to Umm Qasr, Iraq's only port, and close to the new oil fields," Corbin said.
The United States also plans to establish temporary embassy branch offices that would remain open for three to five years. One will be in the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which is claimed by both Kurds and Arabs, and the other will be in Mosul, which faces continuing insurgency-related violence.
"We chose the Kurd-Arab faultline," Corbin said. "There are issues in Kirkuk and in Mosul that have not only to do with Arab-Kurd issues, but also Iraq's minorities, the Yazidis and Christians, and we want to be able to address their issues."
Violence is still a problem for Mosul, he said. "It is still the place with the greatest amount of insurgency, with the greatest amount of terrorist attacks."
The overall security situation in Iraq is generally positive ahead of the August 31 deadline for the end of the U.S. combat role in Iraq, said Colin Kahl, a deputy assistant secretary of defense.
"The number of violent incidents in Iraq remains at its lowest levels of the war," Kahl said. He said total casualties for the first five months of the year -- including civilian and Iraqi and U.S. military -- were the lowest on record.
President Barack Obama confirmed earlier this month that U.S. forces would end combat operations in Iraq by August 31, with 50,000 U.S. troops remaining in the country in a training and advisory role.
Reporting by David Alexander, editing by Anthony Boadle.