Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih has said that he understands the frustrations of the United States over the ongoing violence in his country and has expressed confidence that some of the benchmarks and timelines that are now being talked about will be met.
"Yes, our friends in the United States are growing frustrated with perceptions of lack of progress. I can understand that frustration. I can tell you readily that we need do better because the challenges are huge and we cannot afford to be complacent about this," Salih told CNN.
Salih was on a Sunday talk show when he was asked to comment on a number of American observations on the kind of things that need to be done by Iraq and its leaders.
"The government of Iraq is under tremendous pressure from the Iraqi people. Our constituents are demanding delivery of services and improvement in the security environment and real moves on political reconciliation. Our government is an elected government and is bound by certain commitments that we have made to our own people," he said.
Salih said that the Iraqi security forces will have assumed direct control over many provinces of the country.
"This is a commitment and this is a mission that the government has undertaken. Let me remind you of an important context. When we assumed sovereignty in June 2004, the number of Iraqi security services and military were minimal. Now we have more than -- nearly probably 400,000 people under arms, nearly 11 divisions that are working in various provinces and along the coalition," he said.
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