US outlines Iraq ‘withdrawal’ plans

Iraqi PM says American troops are no longer needed in his country

Washington will conclude the American-led international mission in Iraq over the next twelve months, as announced in a joint statement from Iraq and the US. This decision comes amid escalating tensions in the wider Middle East, with Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah exchanging fire and threatening to expand the Gaza conflict.

After intensive discussions between the Iraqi Higher Military Commission, the US, and the international coalition, the American military mission will transition to a bilateral security partnership, according to the joint statement published by the US State Department on Friday. This phaseout will occur over the next twelve months, concluding no later than September 2025.

However, the coalition forces’ occupation of the oil-rich areas of neighboring Syria will continue until at least September 2026 to “prevent the return of the ISIS terrorist threat,” the statement added.

A commission will work on the mechanisms needed to facilitate the transition and “ensure the physical protection of Coalition advisors present in Iraq,” it stated.

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The Pentagon emphasized that while the US mission is changing, it does not constitute a full withdrawal.

“Our footprint is going to be changing within the country,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters during a press briefing on Friday. “No, the US is not withdrawing from Iraq,” she added.

Baghdad has been in formal negotiations toward the withdrawal of US troops for at least nine months, with similar calls from Iraqi officials ongoing for years.

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Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told Bloomberg TV in an interview last week that Iraq no longer needs US troops on its territory. “Iraq in 2024 is not the same as Iraq in 2014,” he said. “We have moved on from wars to stability.”

The US invaded Iraq in 2003 without UN sanction, claiming the state possessed weapons of mass destruction – a claim later found to be false. The US “shock and awe” bombing campaign devastated large swathes of Iraq and toppled Saddam Hussein’s government, leaving the country in chaos and creating a fertile ground for extremists such as ISIS.

Following the spread of the terrorist group across parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014, US troops returned to the country. Coalition military operations wrapped up in 2021, leaving approximately 2,500 American service members as an enduring presence in Iraq.

READ MORE: US braces for more attacks on its Middle East forces – Axios

US hesitation to leave may be linked to fears of similar disastrous consequences of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Bloomberg noted. In recent months, US troops have been wounded by missile attacks on American military sites in Iraq and Syria amid heightened tensions related to the Israeli campaign in Gaza.