US to withdraw 2,200 troops from Iraq at the end of September

The United States will withdraw more than a third of its troops from Iraq in a few weeks, its top Middle East commander said.

General Kenneth McKenzie told reporters that the troop presence would drop from about 5,200 to 3,000 during September.

The remainder will continue to advise and assist the Iraqi security forces in “eradicating the last remnants” of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).

Last month, US President Donald Trump reaffirmed that he planned to withdraw all troops from Iraq as soon as possible.

He is expected to hail the reduction in force as a step toward his 2016 election campaign promise to untangle the United States from “never-ending wars.”

The presence of American troops has also become a major problem in Iraq since the United States killed Iranian senior general Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad in January.

During a visit to Baghdad, Gen. McKenzie said that the US military relied on the increased ability of the Iraqi Security Forces to operate independently and to deal with the continuing threat from the Islamic State, which once controlled large swaths of Iraq. .

“In recognition of the great progress that Iraqi forces have made and in consultation and coordination with the Iraqi government and our coalition partners, the United States has decided to reduce our troop presence in Iraq from approximately 5,200 to 3,000 troops during the month of September, “he told reporters.

“This reduced footprint allows us to continue to advise and assist our Iraqi partners in eradicating the final remains of [IS] in Iraq and ensuring its lasting defeat, “he added.

General McKenzie said that the United States would continue to expand “partner capacity programs” and that its ultimate goal was to have local forces capable of preventing a resurgence of ISIS and ensuring Iraqi sovereignty without assistance.

In 2003, US-led forces invaded Iraq to overthrow President Saddam Hussein and eliminate weapons of mass destruction that turned out not to exist.

President George W. Bush promised a “free and peaceful Iraq,” but the country was engulfed by a sectarian insurgency that cost tens of thousands of lives.

US combat troops withdrew from Iraq in 2011 after President Barack Obama’s administration failed to negotiate a new agreement regulating their status.

In 2014, when the Islamic State took control of much of Iraq, US forces returned at the invitation of the Iraqi government as part of an international coalition tasked with training and advising Iraqi security forces.

The Baghdad government declared the Islamic State’s military defeat in late 2017, but around 5,000 US troops remained to help Iraq prevent a jihadist resurgence.

Despite continued attacks by IS sleeper cells, some Iraqi political groups, many of them linked to Iran, began to demand that US and foreign troops leave.

Those calls drew widespread support following the drone strike that killed Soleimani, a commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard who Trump said was the “number one terrorist in the world.”

The attack was condemned by then-acting Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi as a “clear violation of the terms of the presence of US forces.”

The Iraqi parliament subsequently passed a non-binding bill urging the government to “cancel the request for aid it submitted to the international coalition.” However, it was never implemented.

Meanwhile, Iran responded by launching ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases that house US forces. More than 100 American soldiers suffered traumatic brain injuries.

US officials have also accused Iranian-aligned Iraqi militias of carrying out a series of rocket attacks on foreign military and civilian personnel, including one in March that killed two Americans and a British soldier.