iraqi defense minister: us-led coalition forces will withdraw in stages within two years
2024-09-09
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on september 8, local time, iraqi defense minister sabit abbasi said that iraq and the united states have reached an agreement on the phased withdrawal of the us-led multinational joint forces from iraq, but the agreement has not yet been formally signed.
△ iraqi defense minister abbasi (file photo). image source: cctv news client
in an interview with saudi arabia's news tv on the same day, abbasi said that the multinational coalition will withdraw from military bases in the iraqi capital baghdad and other areas under the jurisdiction of the central government before september 2025, and the troops stationed in the kurdish autonomous region in northern iraq will withdraw before september 2026.
abbasi said the withdrawal of coalition forces will be divided into two phases and "we may sign an agreement in the next few days." he added that us secretary of defense lloyd austin once said in a meeting that "two years is not enough" to complete the withdrawal, "he proposed to add one more year, which we rejected."
reuters reported on the 6th, citing farhad aladdin, the iraqi prime minister's foreign affairs adviser, that technical negotiations between iraq and the united states on the withdrawal of the multinational coalition forces have ended. "at present, iraq's relationship with this multinational coalition is about to transition to a new stage, which will focus on (developing) bilateral relations in the military, security, economic and cultural fields."
several people familiar with the matter told reuters that according to the original arrangement, the news that the multinational coalition forces would withdraw from iraq was officially announced several weeks ago, but the announcement was postponed due to the ongoing israeli-palestinian conflict that has led to tense situation in the middle east and some details of the withdrawal agreement that are still to be confirmed. it is expected that the formal signing of the agreement will be announced within this month.
reuters also quoted us officials as saying that the us and iran would seek to establish a new "advisory relationship" and it is possible that a certain number of us troops would remain in iraq after the formal withdrawal.
△on the evening of july 25, the assad air base, where us troops were stationed, was attacked by rockets.source: cctv news client
after the current round of israeli-palestinian conflict broke out in october last year, us military bases in iraq have been frequently attacked. against this background, iraqi prime minister mohammad hijau sudani proposed to negotiate with the us on the withdrawal of troops. a us state department spokesman and a defense department official said that us president joseph biden and sudani confirmed in a joint statement issued in april that the two sides will evaluate various factors to determine when and how the multinational coalition in iraq will end its mission.
since 2014, the extremist organization "islamic state" has occupied large areas of iraq and syria. the united states formed a multinational coalition in iraq in the same year on the pretext of fighting "islamic state". in december 2017, the iraqi government announced its victory in the fight against "islamic state". in march 2019, the last important stronghold of "islamic state" in syria was recaptured.
the united states currently has about 2,500 troops stationed in iraq. although there are still some remnants of the islamic state in iraq waiting for an opportunity to launch attacks, the iraqi government believes that they no longer pose a major threat and that iraqi security forces are capable of dealing with them.
