Al-Kadhimi: We succeeded in reducing the number of foreign forces

INA - Baghdad
Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi announced the government success in reducing the number of foreign forces, while indicating that “the militarization of society must be abandoned,”
During his visit to the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, al-Kadhimi offered his thank to the ministry, who were unknown soldiers playing an important role in the success of the visit of His Holiness Pope Francis to Iraq, according to a statement by his media office received by the Iraq News Agency (INA).
"I agree that soft power must take its course, as the weapons that Iraq possessed did not lead it to anything but destruction, futile wars and hostilities," noted al-Kadhimi adding, "diplomacy and dialogue are the real strength to protect people and keep them away from wars, and it is our only chance to get out of the cycle of conflicts,”
Al-Kadhimi stressed that effective diplomacy requires a great effort on various parties, and “this is the role of our embassies, diplomats and international organizations, and the activation of various tools and means of dialogue that guarantee the country's interests and direct it towards permanent solutions,"
He explained, "Today in our society, unfortunately, we see continuous effects from al-Baath era until after 2003, the idea of the militarizing the society and the armed concepts of which we must leave, and the alternative must be diplomacy, economy and development, wars have an easy start, and peace-making is more difficult, so it must be. Hence, we should leave this era and adapt the diplomacy as the solution to deal with problems,”
“We are in the Iraqi situation facing complex crises of political, economic, social and cultural dimensions, and we must make the most of our international relations and support to help overcoming crises and mitigate many of the effects of the circumstances that Iraq has gone through,”
He pointed out that creating a unified national discourse is a must, from which to proceed to a broader dialogue at the regional level to secure the interests of people, regional peace and stability.