Secretary of State John Kerry said after meeting with Iraqi leaders on Monday that embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had pledged to form a new government by July 1. Maliki is under pressure to make his Shiite-led government more inclusive as al Qaeda-linked Sunni extremists seize more territory and press toward Baghdad. Kerry went to Iraqi Kurdistan on Tuesday to urge leaders there to be part of the new government, instead of breaking away. "If they decide to withdraw from the Baghdad political process it will accelerate a lot of the negative trends," a State Department official said. Read more at Reuters.
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