Tue 27 July 2021:

There will be no US forces with a combat role in Iraq after December 31, the US and Iraqi governments said in a joint statement following the US-Iraq Strategic Dialogue on Monday.

“The delegations decided, following recent technical talks, that the security relationship will fully transition to a training, advising, assisting, and intelligence-sharing role, and that there will be no US forces with a combat role in Iraq by December 31, 2021,” the joint statement said.

Biden and Kadhimi met in the Oval Office for their first face-to-face talks as part of a strategic dialogue between the United States and Iraq.

 

Biden said ahead of talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi on Monday that relations were entering a new phase that would include the end of US troop involvement in combat operations in Iraq.

Biden said at the opening of the talks that the US role will be “to continue to train, to assist, to help, to deal with ISIS (Islamic State) as it arises” in Iraq.

“But we’re not going to be, at the end of the year, in a combat mission,” he said.

There are currently 2,500 US troops in Iraq focusing on countering the remnants of ISIL (ISIS). The US role in Iraq will shift entirely to training and advising the Iraqi military to defend itself.

The shift is not expected to have a major effect since the United States has already moved towards focusing on training Iraqi forces.

A US-led coalition invaded Iraq in March 2003 based on charges that then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s government possessed weapons of mass destruction. Saddam was removed from power, but such weapons were never found.

In recent years the US mission was dominated by helping defeat ISIL in Iraq and Syria.

Kadhimi is seen as friendly to the United States and has tried to check the power of Iran-aligned fighter groups. But his government condemned a US air raid against Iran-aligned fighters along its border with Syria in late June, calling it a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.

US To Send 500,000 COVID Vaccine Doses To Iraq

The 500,000 COVID-19 vaccines that the US is sending to Iraq will be there in the next couple of weeks, quicker than initially expected, President Joe Biden told Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on Monday.

“I want to tell you, I was told the half a million – 500,000 – doses of COVID vaccine we’re sending, I was told you were told they wouldn’t come for awhile. They’ll be there in a couple weeks, they’ll be there quickly,” Biden said at a White House meeting with the prime minister.

The United States will also provide $5.2m to help fund a UN mission to monitor October elections in Iraq.

“We support strengthening Iraqi’s democracy and we’re anxious to make sure the election goes forward in October,” Biden said.