By NNN-KUNA,
Washington : Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad Al-Bolani started an official visit to Washington, at a time when the security agreement between the United States and Iraq seems to be postponed until at least next fall.
A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told KUNA that Al-Bolani will hold talks next week with Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, where the Iraqi minister “will be reviewing a whole range of issues involving the Iraqi police and recent security gains.”
The source noted there is “no update” so far on the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and the “negotiations continue” between the United States and Iraq.
The US official said that a reception was held for former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who is visiting Washington now, and in attendance was senior State Department and White House’s National Security Council officials.
Allawi also briefed Congress last Wednesday on the situation in Iraq.
The former Iraqi premier called at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace for a formula that combines preconditions and time-frame for US withdrawal from Iraq, in a contrast position with the current Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki.
He elaborated that the local conditions are national reconciliation and building the state’s institutions on non-sectarian bases, while the external conditions are having suitable regional environment to stop neighboring countries’ interference in Iraq’s internal affairs.
Allawi suggested considering other alternatives in case the negotiations fell apart, mainly the extension of the UN mandate for Coalition Forces in Iraq, which ends on December 31.
US Congress would go into recess between August 11 and September 5, in a period when Democrats and Republicans conventions are to be held, before the preparations start for the presidential elections next fall.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi parliament decided to postpone its recess that was expected to start end of July, to allow time to reach an agreement on provincial elections law scheduled for next October.
Kurdish lawmakers walked out of the Iraqi parliament last Wednesday in protest over a secret ballot that calls for power sharing in Kirkuk in the local election. Iraqi President Jalal Talbani would most probably veto this decision.
UN Envoy Staffan de Mistura warned that not passing this law could result in not holding these elections before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, a new report released by the Congressional Research Service estimated that total cost of the war on Iraq reached USD 648 billion.
The Vietnam War, in the 2008 value of the dollar, cost the US federal budget USD 686 billion, which makes the Iraq war the second most expensive war since World War II.
This non-partisan report also said that the United States spent around USD 860 billion in military operations, mainly in Iraq and Afghanistan, since the attacks of September 11, 2001.