US Announces End Of Year’s “Combat Mission” In Iraq

The American President, Joe biden, confirmed on Monday that the combat troops of The United States will leave Iraq at the end of the year, although an unknown number of troops will remain in the country to advise and train the Iraqi army.

“We will not be on a combat mission (in Iraq) at the end of the year”, the US president said in statements to the press oval office from the White House and in the presence of the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa al Kazemi.

Biden explained that Washington would keep troops in Iraq to to advise Yes to help to the Iraqi army. “We are determined to cooperate on security issues. Our fight against the Islamic State (IS) is vital for the stability of the region and our cooperation against terrorism will continue as we enter this new phase.“Biden promised.

However, he did not specify the number of troops who will remain in Iraq to continue the fight against ISIS and deal with the Shiite militias ally in Tehran and who, in recent months, have stepped up their attacks against American troops.

There is currently 2,500 American soldiers in Iraq, far from 170,000 there in 2007 after the invasion.

Outside the United States, Iran is the other great ally of the Iraqi government and its Shiite sympathizers in Iraq they put pressure on Al Kazemi to obtain the withdrawal of all foreign troops.

Speaking to the press, Al Kazemi expressed his gratitude to the American people for his work in Iraq and said he looked forward to working with Biden. “Our nation is now stronger than ever,” proclaimed Al Kazemi, who took office in May 2020 after his predecessor, Adel Abdelmahdi, resigned in November 2019 in the middle violent protests across Iraq, where they died towards 600 demonstrators for police repression.

Within three months, Iraq will hold elections to elect the parliament which will choose the president and prime minister. Today’s announcement allows Al Kazemi to satisfy the Shiite political factions that reject Washington’s presence and to score a point in the election.

Overall, the United States has had a almost continuous military presence in Iraq since, in 2003, the then president George W. Bush (2001-2009) ordered the invasion of Iraq under the pretext, which later turned out to be false, that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.

His successor, Barack Obama (2009-2017), produced in 2011 completely withdraw all US troops from Iraq, but he had to order his return in 2014 lead an international coalition against NO.

(With information from EFE)

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