Washington and Baghdad have agreed to set up a committee to begin talks on the future of the US-led military coalition in Iraq to set a timetable for a phased withdrawal and the end of the coalition, Iraq’s foreign ministry said.
The US forces entered Iraq and overthrew leader Saddam Hussein in 2003, sparking years of insurgent warfare and fighting among Iraq’s ethnic and religious groups. The US Army left the country in 2011, but thousands of troops returned in 2014 to help the Iraqi government defeat ISIS.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday that Baghdad intends to “formulate a specific and clear timetable defining the duration of the presence of international coalition advisers in Iraq” and “begin a gradual and targeted reduction in the number of advisers on Iraqi soil,” which will eventually lead to the end of the coalition’s mission.
It added that Iraq pledges to provide “security for international coalition advisers during the negotiation period in all parts of the country” and to “maintain stability and prevent escalation“.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the talks would take place within the framework of the highest military commission agreed in August 2023 – before Israel’s war on Gaza begins on October 7 – and discuss “the transition to a strong bilateral security partnership between Iraq and the United States”.
The Iraqi government says ISIS has been defeated and the coalition’s work is over, but it is willing to consider bilateral relations with coalition members, including military co-operation on training and equipment.
Iraq also says the coalition’s presence has become a magnet for instability amid daily shelling by Iranian-backed armed groups on bases where troops are stationed and US retaliatory strikes that have intensified since Israel’s war on Gaza began.
