United States is ending its combat operations in Iraq at midnight tonight after seven years of fighting. Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki has said in a televised address that country is independent as the US formally ends combat operations. He said that Iraqi security forces will take the lead in ensuring security and safeguarding the country and removing all threats that the country has to weather, internally or externally. US President Barack Obama will also deliver a televised address to the American people about Iraq this evening. Meanwhile, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Baghdad last evening on the occasion of the end of U.S. combat troops’ mission in Iraq. According to Voice of Iraq news agency, the three-day visit also comes as Iraqi political parties are struggling to form a new government five months after parliamentary elections.All US forces will leave the country by the end of next year.