Iraq announced this Friday that the timetable has been set to end US military presence in the Arab country after nine years.
This Friday morning, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said that the joint US–Iraqi Supreme Military Committee has agreed on a timetable to “put an end” to the US presence in Iraq after nearly nine years.
“In late January, we formed the High Military Committee, composed of top military officials from both the United States and Iraq, to assess the ongoing threat of [ISIS], the capabilities of the Iraqi security services, and operational conditions throughout the country,” Sudani wrote in a column written for Foreign Affairs magazine Friday.
He further noted that “efforts have led to an agreement among all stakeholders to end the international coalition in a gradual and orderly manner on an agreed timetable … Going forward, the High Military Committee will develop a road map for future relations, including the presence of US advisers,”
Al-Sudani also highlighted the fact that the move is aimed at finding a “delicate balance” between the US and resistance factions that form the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), who “sometimes enter into direct conflict with the US forces.”
Washington wants to stay in Iraq for reasons Baghdad doesn’t accept anymore!
The main reason why the Iraqi Prime Minister is now calling for the US military to leave Iraq for good is that he believes ISIS is no longer a significant threat to the country; “Now, only small ISIS groups remain; they are being pursued by our security forces, across deserts and mountains and into caves, but they no longer pose a threat to the state,” Sudani also said, adding that Iraq needs to redirect resources “from waging wars toward promoting development.”
“Ultimate victory over terrorism is unattainable without genuine development, including a decent standard of health care, education, and other essential services,” he asserted.
However, Washington still refuses to accept that ISIS is no longer a good reason for the US troops to justify their presence in Iraq. Last month, the US Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski claimed that ISIS still poses a threat in Iraq and the U.S.-led military coalition’s work with Iraq to fully defeat the group is not done.
In an interview with Reuters on March 23, Romanowski said that “we (Iraq and US) both assess ISIS is still a threat here, much, much diminished, but our work is essentially not done and we want to ensure that Iraqi forces can continue the enduring defeat of ISIS.”
This is while Senior Iraqi politicians, including Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani himself, had already told US officials several times that ISIS no longer posed a threat in Iraq and the coalition was not needed, even as its affiliates continued to carry out attacks elsewhere.
Al-Sudani in Washington soon!
The Iraqi Prime Minister is set to travel to Washington DC in the coming days to meet with US President Joe Biden and other top US officials, mostly to discuss the details about the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.
More than 2,500 US troops are currently serving in Iraq, a fact that is contrary to a 2020 vote by the Iraqi Parliament demanding the US troops to withdraw from the Iraqi territory. The vote came in response to the US assassination of Iranian anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani and deputy leader of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in Baghdad.
Al-Sudani is also expected to discuss the security and defense relationship between Iraq and the US, a senior State Department official told Reuters on Friday.
