Iraq's willingness to keep US troops in the country is critical to the Biden administration. The United States believes that its presence in Iraq is important not only to prevent the return of ISIS, but also to confront Iranian influence in the region. Any decision by Sudanese to expel US forces from the country could also undermine the administration's efforts to prevent the war in Gaza from expanding.
While US officials have been told that Iraq is willing to discuss keeping US forces in the country, political machinations within the Iraqi parliament will likely force it to take steps to remove US forces.
The National Security Council declined to comment on the cable. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.
The January 4 strike – which was in response to attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria – killed the militant known as Abu al-Taqwa, the leader of Harakat al-Nujaba, an Iranian-backed militia group that is technically part of Iraq's security. . Troops. Iranian-aligned groups in Iraq quickly demanded that the government expel US forces in response.
The Pentagon said it had no plans to withdraw its forces from Iraq, and was not aware of any notification from the Iraqi government asking it to do so.
“We are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government,” Major General Pat Rader, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters on Monday. “I am not aware of any notifications from the Iraqi government to the Ministry of Defense.”
This is not the first time that the Iraqi government has claimed that it will expel American forces. In January 2020, in response to the US military's killing of top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, the Iraqi parliament voted on a bill.
A decision to end the US military presence in Iraq. However, this was never implemented.
The Pentagon has long maintained that US forces are in Iraq for the sole purpose of ensuring that ISIS does not return, and that they have a close relationship with the Iraqi security forces. At the end of 2021, the two governments announced the plan to shift to a purely advisory role, marking the official end of the US military's combat mission in the country.
However, this was mostly a symbolic gesture: the United States still has approximately 2,500 troops in Iraq, along with 900 in Syria, focused on ISIS.
However, the relationship between the United States and Iraq has been under increasing pressure since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. Since Israel invaded Gaza, Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria have launched drones and missiles against US forces there more than 120 times.
Three service members were injured, one seriously, in a drone attack on Christmas Day in Iraq. The Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah group claimed responsibility for the attack.
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