US announces deal to withdraw troops from Iraq after a decade of presence

On September 27, the United States announced an agreement with Iraq under which the US military will withdraw from some areas of Iraq where it has been stationed for a decade to help fight the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization, but some US forces will remain in the Middle Eastern country for many years.

US Army soldiers board a CH-47 Chinook helicopter after a live-fire exercise at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq in July 2023. (Source: US Army)

Middle Eastern media quoted US officials as saying that the deal includes two main phases.

In the first phase, the US-led international coalition against IS will end military operations in some areas of Iraq by September 2025. The international coalition was established to fight IS after the terrorist group seized large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.

In phase two, some US forces would remain in Iraq until at least September 2026, but they would only attack IS in neighboring Syria. This time frame could be extended depending on conditions on the ground and political consultations between Iraq, the US and members of the international anti-IS coalition.

The US announcement on September 27 did not specify the number of US troops that will remain in Iraq.

There are currently about 2,500 US troops stationed in Iraq, where they work with Iraqi and Kurdish partners to fight IS militants.

IS fighters remain active and have carried out a number of attacks in rural Iraq. This month, US and Iraqi forces coordinated a raid on an IS hideout, killing 14 IS fighters.

In March 2018, the Iraqi Parliament passed a resolution calling for a timetable to withdraw the US-led international coalition from the Middle Eastern country.

In January 2024, Iraq and the United States established a Joint High-Level Military Committee tasked with overseeing the withdrawal of the US-led international military coalition from Iraq. The Iraqi government said the committee had met several times to develop a withdrawal plan.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/my-cong-bo-thoa-thuan-thuan-luc-luong-khoi-iraq-sau-mot-thap-ky-don-tru-287968.html