U.S. Vice President Joe Biden opened talks in Baghdad Thursday on an unannounced visit to Iraq, whose leadership is bogged down in a protracted political crisis even as its forces battle jihadists. 


"The vice president has arrived in Iraq for meetings with (the) Iraqi leadership focused on encouraging Iraqi national unity and continued momentum in the fight against ISIL," a statement from Biden's office said, using an acronym for the Islamic State jihadist group. 


Biden went into a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi shortly after stepping off the C-17 military transport plane that flew him to Baghdad. 


Abadi discussed political, security and economic developments with Biden, the premier's office said. 


It is the highest-ranking visit by a U.S. official to Iraq since Biden traveled to Iraq in 2011

Source: NNA