The United States and Iraq have signed an agreement to end the US military mission

The American president Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Qadimi are expected to sign an agreement Monday (July 26th) to formally end the US combat mission in Iraq by the end of 2021, more than 18 years after US troops were sent to the country.

In conjunction with this, US President Biden is withdrawing the last American forces from the Afghanistan By the end of August, the Democratic president is completing US combat missions in the two wars that then-President George W. Bush launched during his own tenure.

Biden and Kadimi will meet at the Oval Office for their first face-to-face talks as part of the US-US Strategic Dialogue. Iraq.

A statement issued after the meeting will announce the end of the US mission in Iraq, a senior Biden government official has said.

There are currently 2,500 US troops in Iraq focusing on dealing with any remaining Islamic State fighters. The US role in Iraq will be completely transformed and will have an educational and advisory character to the Iraqi army.

The change is not expected to have a significant impact, as the United States has already turned to training Iraqi forces.

The under USA An alliance invaded Iraq in March 2003 on allegations that the government of then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. Saddam was ousted from power, but no such weapons were ever found.

In recent years, the main role of the US mission has been to assist in the defeat of Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.

No one will say “mission accomplished”. “The goal is the ongoing defeat of ISIS,” a senior government official told reporters ahead of Kadimi’s visit, according to the Athens News Agency.

The report is reminiscent of a large banner with the message “Mission Executed” on USS Abraham Lincoln, on which Bush delivered a speech announcing the end of major combat operations in Iraq on May 1, 2003.

“If you look at where we were, where we had Apache helicopters in battle, when we had American special forces in regular operations, this is an important development. “So by the end of the year we think we will be in a good position to really move into a consulting role and a capacity building role,” the official said.

Earlier this month, US diplomats and troops in Iraq and Syria have been the target of three rocket and drone strikes. Analysts believe the attacks were part of a campaign by pro-Iranian paramilitary forces.

The top government official did not say how many US troops would remain in Iraq.

Candimi is considered friendly to the United States and has tried to control the strength of pro-Iranian paramilitary forces. However, his government condemned the US airstrikes against pro-Iranian fighters on the border with Syria in late June, citing a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.

The US-Iraq announcement is expected to include details of a number of civilian agreements related to health, energy and other areas.

The United States plans to give Iraq 500,000 doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 as part of the global COVAX vaccine distribution program, a senior government official has said.

The United States will also provide $ 5.2 million to fund a US mission to monitor the October election in Iraq.

Source Link

You may also like