relations. secretary of state mike pompeo made an unannounced stop in a rack on his way to egypt where he met with several leaders, the washington post writes the visit is part of a middle east tour in which the secretary is seeking to reassure us partners in the region after president trump's decision last month to withdraw troops from syria. [ inaudible question ] >> >> [ inaudible question ]

>> and while in iraq secretary of state pompeo spoke to reporters briefly about his meetings and middle east policy. >> i just wanted to spend a minute, giving you a little bit of a summary of today. we had a chance to meet with senior leadership of the govenrment of iraq. we had a great set of conversations, we certainly talked about the president's decision to withdraw from syria. but we focused, more importantly on the enormously important impact of the iraqui government formation process, and how it is we can, together, ensure that we create better lives and democracy here in iraq. and we had great conversations with prime minister, with the president, with the whole team, the head of the council representatives. and then we came here to erbil to have conversations with the kurdish leadership as well and again, real progress has been made since the election in iraq, which i think will put this country and this region in a far better place. so, a great set of

conversations, a great set of partners and a common understanding that the battle against dash, to counter dash and the fight to counter iran is real and important and something each of us needs to be active participants in. so with that, i'll take a question. >> [ inaudible question ] >> no, the president's decision to withdraw is very clear. >> how are you going to handle the relations with the kurds? we're having conversations with them even as we speak about how we will effectuate this in a way tha protects our forces, makes sure the americans, as we withdraw are safe, and we will complete the mission of taking down the last elements of the caliphate before we depart. >> is part of that mission protecting the kurds? >> what i said last week as the

that these are the books that have fought with us and it is important that we do everything we can to ensure that those folks that fought with us are protected and turkish president everything to make sure that's in place. as ambassador jeffries and as others traveled through the region in the days ahead we will make real progress. >> [ inaudible question ] >> he is talked about tears being a threat and we will be very supportive anytime we find extremist in tears we are prepared to support whatever country that goes after them and that includes turkey and others. and now a panel discussion on the role islam plays when muslim countries consider their foreign policy. the brookings institute hosted this event which included several middle eastern experts. it is just over 90