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Baghdad struggles in its role as mediator

The Iraqi government is still struggling to present itself as a neutral intermediary between the various sectarian and regional forces, while the United States has started talks with Sunni parties on security cooperation.
Iraq's Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi (L) meets with U.S. Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the defence ministry in Baghdad November 15, 2014. Dempsey arrived on Saturday in Baghdad on an unannounced visit to meet U.S. commanders preparing to increase American assistance to Iraqi and Kurdish forces battling Sunni Islamic State (IS) militants.  REUTERS/Stringer   (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR4E991

Washington has managed to start a dialogue with Sunni parties on the future of the war on the Islamic State (IS). The Iraqi government had failed for years to open such talks in the context of the continuously deferred national reconciliation project. This raises several issues, chief among them that the Iraqi state is failing to present itself as a neutral intermediary between the political forces and instead promoting itself or allowing the conflicting parties to promote it.

First of all, this is not the first time that the United States has managed to set the stage for dialogue between the various Iraqi parties. In 2006, it established the Sahwa forces following talks and negotiations conducted by US officials with Sunni insurgents and tribal leaders who were fighting the US presence in Iraq and caused the US forces material and human losses during the occupation of the country (2003-11).

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