President Barack Obama on August 31 announced the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq and made it clear that the responsibility for Iraq's future is now firmly in Iraqi hands.  At the same time, Vice President Joe Biden visited Baghdad to reassure Iraqi leaders that the U.S. was not disengaging from Iraq, but shifting to a long-term partnership based on economic, political and cultural cooperation.

Antony Blinken, the national security adviser to Vice President Biden, recently returned from his trip to Baghdad with the vice president and spoke at the United States Institute of Peace on September 7, 2010.  Dr. Laith Kubba, the director for the Middle East and North Africa at the National Endowment for Democracy, also spoke and provided additional perspective on the U.S. government's transforming role in Iraq.

Blinken explained that, amid Iraqi popular support for U.S. troop withdrawal, the U.S. will continue to operate in Iraq through diplomatic channels and in an advisory capacity to the Iraqi Army.  Despite Blinken's optimism for a stable and sovereign Iraq, he believes that the road toward self-reliance will be rife with challenges, especially in light of the delays in the formation of an Iraqi government.  Dr. Kubba expressed support for greater U.S. engagement in Iraq on a political front rather than a military front, yet he stated that the current lack of an Iraqi government has weakened the Iraqi Constitution and that the Iraqi Army might not be able to address the country's gravest threats.

Speakers

• Antony Blinken
  National Security Adviser to Vice President Biden
• Dr. Laith Kubba
  Director of the Middle East and North Africa division at the National Endowment for Democracy
• William Taylor, Moderator
  Vice President, Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations
  U.S. Institute of Peace

Multimedia

• Watch a video of this event