US, IRAQ AGREE ON PLAN FOR MILITARY WITHDRAWAL BY END OF 2026

Tue 10 September 2024:

Iraq and the United States have agreed on a plan on the withdrawal of American military forces from the country within the next two years, following months of negotiations and attacks by Iran-backed militias against US bases in the region.

According to a report by the Reuters news agency, both Baghdad and Washington recently came to an agreement on a withdrawal deal which would reportedly see hundreds of American troops and their coalition forces pull out of the Ain Al-Asad airbase in Iraq’s western Anbar province by September 2025, followed by the withdrawal of remaining forces from the Kurdistan region’s capital, Erbil, after another year.

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The revelation was reportedly derived from several sources, including five US officials, two officials from other coalition member states, and three Iraqi officials, all of whom are unnamed due to the deal not yet being formally announced. Such an announcement is reportedly expected to take place this month.

As one US official quoted by the news agency said, although the agreement still needs “a final go-ahead” from the American and Iraqi leadership, “it’s now just a question of when to announce it”.

The outlet also quoted Farhad Alaaldin, Foreign Affairs adviser to Iraq’s Prime Minister, as confirming that technical talks with the US government have already concluded, and that the Iraqi government is “now on the brink of transitioning the relationship between Iraq and members of the international coalition to a new level, focusing on bilateral relations in military, security, economic and cultural areas”

The reported agreement comes after months of those diplomatic talks, which began in January this year before being put on hold due to tensions over Israel’s ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip and Palestinian territories. Since 7 October last year, US forces and bases in Iraq have been subjected to at least 70 attacks by Iran-backed Shia militias, with the Iraqi government also increasingly calling on the American military to accelerate a withdrawal from the country.

Many analysts increasingly predict that such a withdrawal of US military forces from Iraq could inevitably lead to similar withdrawals from other parts of the wider region with the military presence in north-east Syria, for example, potentially becoming ever more unsustainable.

Despite much ongoing criticism of the US military presence in Iraq and the region by both its critics and its allies, there are notable concerns amongst many that it could result in greater influence being given to Iran, its proxy militias and other rivals such as Russia or China.

-MEMO

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