Biden visits Baghdad

US vice-president-elect Joe Biden arrived in Baghdad yesterday for talks with leaders of Iraq, where the withdrawal of some 140,000 American troops is seen as a key challenge facing the incoming US administration.

The Delaware senator, who takes office with President-elect Barack Obama later this month, met President Jalal Talabani at his Baghdad residence. The visit by the long-time chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee came at the tail end of a tour of southwest Asia that included stops in Pakistan and Afghanistan.