Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner visits Iraq: U.S. official

(REUTERS) White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law, is visiting Iraq with Marine General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, a senior Trump administration official said on Sunday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Kushner wanted to see Iraq for himself and to show support for the Iraqi government. The official was confirming a report by other media, including a tweet by a New York Times reporter.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi met Trump for the first time on March 20 and said afterwards that he won assurances of greater U.S. support in fighting Islamic State militants but cautioned that military might alone would not be sufficient.

Trump took office on Jan. 20, pledging a new strategy to defeat the hardline militant group that seized large swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014.

Before Trump took office, Iraqi forces recaptured a string of major cities from the group, shrank its finances and significantly stemmed the flow of foreign fighters, all with the support of U.S.-led coalition air strikes and military advisers.