President Biden announced on Monday that he will officially end the U.S. combat mission in Iraq before the end of the year. This move comes after Biden stated that he would withdraw troops from Afghanistan and end the longest war in the United States.
The plan is to move the U.S. military from combat and shift its efforts to consulting and training roles. The Iraqi security forces have undergone “real combat tests” and proved themselves “capable” to protect their country.
The White House said it still recognizes the threat posed by the Islamic State to Iraq. The terrorist organization recently claimed responsibility for an attack in a market on the outskirts of Baghdad, which killed at least 30 people and injured dozens of others.
The United States and Iraq reached an agreement in April that training and consulting missions will end the United States’ combat role in Iraq.
The Iraq War began in March 2003 under the leadership of the George W. Bush administration. According to the Department of Defense casualties websiteAs part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, a total of 4,431 soldiers were killed and 31,994 were injured during the operation. Iraq BodyCount.org It is estimated that the number of recorded deaths among Iraqi civilians due to violence is between 185,761 and 208,877.
Former President Barack Obama initially withdrew from Iraq in 2011, but re-entered the country in 2014 to counter the growing Islamic State threat in much of western and northern Iraq. Former President Donald Trump also reduced the number of troops from 3,000 to 2,500 during his tenure.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Kadimi said that it is time for the United States to end its combat operations in Iraq. “There is no need for any foreign combat troops on Iraqi territory,” He told reporters.
Al-Kadhimi can use these negotiations to help his campaign, because there are less than three months before the Iraqi parliamentary elections.
Biden and Kadimi told reporters in the Oval Office that the US mission in Iraq will change.
“Things are going well, and our role in Iraq will be to assist, train, help and respond to the arrival of ISIS. But by the end of this year, we will not perform combat missions. Biden says.
“We support the strengthening of democracy in Iraq, and we are eager to ensure that the October elections go smoothly. We are also committed to security cooperation to jointly fight the Islamic State. This is vital to the stability of the region, and our anti-terrorism cooperation will continue even as we enter This new stage we are going to talk about,” Biden says.
Biden’s latest move will not be to completely withdraw the 2,500 US troops stationed in Iraq, which is different from his plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan before August 31. The government did not say when it will withdraw completely.
