The US and Iraq held their first round of talks on the future of US military presence in Iraq, with Baghdad discussing its expectations to lead to a timeline for reducing their presence. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as well as top-ranking officials from both the Iraqi armed forces and the US-led coalition met in Baghdad, yesterday. Military experts will oversee ending the military mission of the Global Coalition against Daesh or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a decade after its initiation and after the successful achievement of its mission in partnership with Iraqi security and military forces.
There are about 2,500 US troops deployed in Iraq currently, as part of the coalition that was formed in 2014 to help the Iraq government defeat ISIL.
However, as Israel’s war in Gaza intensifies, the US forces in Iraq and Syria are frequently attacked by Iran-allied groups, resulting in US retaliatory attacks and Iraq’s complaints of US aggression against its territory. The US emphasised that the decision to discuss withdrawal from Iraq was decided upon before October 7. However, ISIL and Iraq took credit for the decision and said that it proves that the Americans only understand the language of force and promised to continue their attacks.