US President Donald Trump and Syrian president Ahmad al-Sharaa will meet for talks in Washington. Photo: AP PHOTO

A man once detained by the US for joining al-Qaeda militants fighting American forces in Iraq is set to become the first Syrian president to visit Washington since the country's independence in 1946.

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Since rebel forces led by him ousted former Syrian president Bashar Assad last December, Ahmad al-Sharaa - who cut ties with al-Qaeda years earlier - has gone on a largely successful charm offensive to establish new ties with countries that had shunned Assad's government aft

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