Washington (AFP) – The United States announced an agreement with the Iraqi government on Friday to end the military mission in Iraq carried out by the US-led coalition. Islamic State group By next year, with US forces leaving some of the bases they long occupied during a two-decade military presence in the country.
But the Biden administration has refused to provide details about how many of the 2,500 US troops still serving in Iraq will remain there or acknowledge that they will celebrate. Complete withdrawal from the country.
“I think it’s fair to say that our footprint, you know, will change within the country,” Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters on Friday, without providing details.
This announcement comes at a particularly controversial time in the Middle East The conflict between Israel escalated Two Iranian-backed armed groups – Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza – threaten a broader regional war. Bases housing US forces and contractors are regularly located Targeted by Iranian-backed militias Over the past several years, those attacks intensified late last year and early this spring after the war Israel-Hamas war It broke out almost a year ago.
For many years, Iraqi officials have periodically called for the withdrawal of coalition forces Formal talks to end the American presence In the country it has been going on for months.
American officials who briefed reporters on Friday said that the agreement would lead to a two-stage transition in the forces allocated to Iraq, which began this month. In the first phase, which lasts until September 2025, the coalition’s mission against ISIS will end and forces will leave some old bases.
After the November elections, American forces will begin departing from Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq and from Baghdad International Airport, according to Iraqi government officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. These forces will be transferred to the Al-Harir base in Erbil in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq.
In the second phase, the United States will continue to operate in some capacity from Iraq through 2026 to support counter-ISIS operations in Syria, a senior Biden administration official and a senior defense official said, on condition of anonymity, in a call with reporters to provide information. Details before the announcement.
American officials said that the American military mission would eventually transform into a bilateral security relationship, but they did not indicate what that might mean for the number of American forces that would remain in Iraq in the future.
Iraqi officials said some US forces may remain at the Al-Harir base after 2026 because the Kurdistan Regional Government wants them to stay.
“We have taken an important step in resolving the issue of the international coalition to fight ISIS.” Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Al-Sudani He said in a speech this month. He pointed to “the government’s belief in the capabilities of our security forces that defeated the remnants of ISIS.”
The continued presence of US forces represents a political weakness for Sudanese, whose government is subject to increasing influence from Iran. Iraq has long struggled to balance its relations with the United States and Iran, both allies of the Iraqi government but regional enemies.
“We thank the government for its position of expelling the international coalition forces,” Qais Khazali, founder of Asaib Ahl al-Haq — an Iranian-backed Iraqi Shiite militia that has launched attacks against US forces in Iraq — said last week.
The agreement represents the third time in the past two decades that the United States has announced a… Formal transition to the role of the army there.
The United States invaded Iraq in March 2003 in what it called a massive “shock and awe” bombing campaign that lit up the skies, laid waste to large parts of the country and cleared the way for American ground forces to converge on Baghdad. The invasion was based on what turned out to be false claims that Saddam Hussein had secretly stockpiled weapons of mass destruction. Such weapons have never been achieved.
The US presence grew to more than 170,000 troops at the height of counterinsurgency operations in 2007. The Obama administration negotiated a troop withdrawal, and in December 2011, the last combat troops left, leaving only a small number of military personnel to train the troops. Office of Security Assistance and a detachment of Marines to guard the embassy compound.
In 2014, the emergence of ISIS and its rapid takeover of a wide area across Iraq and Syria led US forces and partner nations to call on the Iraqi government to help rebuild and retrain police and army units that had collapsed and fled.
After ISIS lost control of the lands it once controlled, coalition military operations ended in 2021 Permanent American presence About 2,500 soldiers remained in Iraq to continue training and conduct joint anti-ISIS operations with the Iraqi Army.
In the years since, the United States has maintained this presence to pressure Iranian-backed militias active in Iraq and Syria. The presence of US forces in Iraq also makes it difficult for Iran to transfer weapons through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon, for use by its proxies, including Lebanese Hezbollah, against Israel.
“Internet practitioner. Social media maven. Certified zombieaholic. Lifelong communicator.”