Strategic Dialogues; Will US troops leave Iraq by the end of the year?
The latest round of “strategic talks” between Iraq and the United States is taking place in Washington today. The Iraqi delegation, led by its secretary of state, arrived in Washington last Tuesday, and the results are expected to be announced in a statement on Monday in the presence of the Iraqi prime minister, who will travel to Washington tomorrow to meet with the US president.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said yesterday that strategic talks between the United States and Iraq at the State Department on Friday “will determine the future of our forces in Iraq.” As the Wall Street Journal reports, US and Iraqi leaders plan to issue a statement outlining the withdrawal of US “combat” troops from Iraq later this year.
The Wall Street Journal claimed that the statement would be issued during a meeting between Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and US President Joe Biden next Monday, and that a joint statement from senior Baghdad and Washington officials would emphasize that Iraq would continue to The presence of American troops is needed to help Iraqi forces fight the terrorist group ISIS.
Citing current and former US officials, the paper added that the statement was aimed at easing pressure from Iraqi resistance groups on al-Kadhimi.
The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, quoted an unnamed source as saying that “the United States intends to redefine the role of some American forces in Iraq in order to implement the provisions of the statement,” which makes more sense.
Obviously, the Biden government is trying to moderate the role of its forces in Iraq. “The main thing we will hear is that it is very important that the Biden government wants to stay in Iraq, because the Iraqi government has invited us there and wants us to stay,” Reuters quoted a US military official as saying.”
“The mission has not changed … What we are talking about is how to support the Iraqi security forces in defeating ISIS,” the official added.
The official added that the focus will be on logistics, ammunition storage and support for Iraqi forces in strengthening their intelligence and surveillance capabilities.
Although the United States has cleverly focused on this goal and is trying to survive in Iraq to reduce attacks by Iraqi resistance forces on Washington targets, however, Washington’s official statement on the end of its combat presence in Iraq is a victory for the Iraqi resistance. The resistance is committed to expelling the last American occupying soldier from Iraq.
