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Washington against partitioning Iraq -- US Def. Sec.

BAGHDAD, Aug 22 (KUNA) -- Visiting US Secretary of Defense James Mattis assured Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi during a meeting on Tuesday that Washington remained adamant against any scheme to partition the nation or destabilize it.
The United States supports Iraq's unity and rejects any measures designed to divide or destabilize it, an official statement quoted Mattis as saying during the meeting with prime minister Al-Abadi.
Mattis, who arrived in Iraq earlier on Tuesday, re-affirmed Washington's support for the Iraqi Government in its wars against terrorist groups, hailing the military gains against the so-called Islamic State (IS).
The US official and the premier also discussed, during the meeting, boosting military cooperation, training and arming the Iraqi forces as well as the war on terrorism.
Mattis arrived in Iraq on a previously unannounced mission, which came two days after Al-Abadi's announcement of a military operation to liberate Tal Afar, in the province of Nineveh, to liberate it from the IS.
The Iraqi Government forces had defeated the IS in several regions in Iraq including the major city of Mosul. (Pick up previous) ahh.rk