The Hill News

Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Baghdad on Monday to lead a ceremony marking the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq. 

The Associated Press reported that Biden will also meet with political leaders to pressure them to end a deadlock that has prevented the formation of a new government.

Biden's visit comes one day before President Obama is scheduled to deliver an Oval Office address about the end of the combat mission. 

The speech comes on the heels of a major withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from the country, about seven-a! nd-a-half years after President Bush began the war. Less than 50,000 troops are now in Iraq and will remain through next summer to assist with training and support operations. 

The president had set an Aug. 31 deadline to draw-down troop levels and end combat operations.

Obama is expected to state that the draw-down of combat forces there fulfills one of his major campaign promises, but that the U.S. still has much work to do to tamp down Islamic extremism across the globe.