US and Iraqi officials are in contact with some Sunni Arab insurgent groups to build an alliance against al-Qaeda in Iraq, the outgoing US ambassador said today.
Outgoing US ambasador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad pictured today at his final news conference in Baghdad. Getty Images
Zalmay Khalilzad also said he was cautiously optimistic that "success is possible" in Iraq, but he urged leaders to act fast if they were to maintain the support of the impatient US people amid growing pressure for a timetable to withdraw troops.
At his final news conference in Baghdad, he confirmed reports that US embassy and military staff as well as Iraqi government officials had met representatives of insurgent-linked groups several times.
"That process is continuing. . . . One of the main challenges is how to separate more and more groups away from al-Qaeda, how to turn them to co-operate with the Iraqi government against al-Qaeda. That is the strategic objective."
Earlier the New York Timesreported that Mr Khalilzad had met Sunni insurgent groups, which include nationalists and former Saddam Hussein sympathisers.
Al-Qaeda militants have launched of a string of attacks on a group of tribes in western Anbar province that have formed an alliance against the hardline Islamist group.
US commanders in Anbar have been promoting the tribal alliance against al-Qaeda as crucial to ending the violence.