US President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kazmi on Monday formally signed an agreement ending the US combat military mission in Iraq by the end of 2021, which began more than 18 years ago. had gone.
Earlier, President Biden announced the withdrawal of all US troops from Afghanistan by the end of August. The president, who belongs to the Democratic Party, has decided to withdraw troops from Iraq as well as Afghanistan. These forces were deployed by former President George W. Bush.
Biden and Kazmi met Monday in the Oval Office of the White House, their first face-to-face meeting to discuss strategic issues between the United States and Iraq.
In the presence of Prime Minister Kazmi, Biden told reporters that our role in Iraq now is to provide training, assistance and, if necessary, the necessary assistance to deal with ISIS. And we will end our combat mission by the end of this year.
There are currently 2,500 US troops in Iraq whose mission is to eliminate the remaining elements of the Islamic State. The role of the United States in Iraq will now be limited to training and advising the Iraqi army. The Iraqi army will have to defend itself.
Ahead of the meeting, White House spokeswoman Jane Sackie said in response to a question about changing the nature of the military mission in Iraq that the nature of the military mission in Iraq was changing.
However, no operational details of the decision have been announced yet. The main purpose of the change of mission is to retain the role of training, advising and assisting the Iraqi army, as suggested by the Iraqi leadership.
In an interview with VOA's Kurdish Service last week, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fawad Hussein expressed hope that both sides would agree to a proposal to end the deployment of US combat troops in Iraq.
The operation against ISIS began in 2014 with the participation of US-led coalition forces. There are currently about 2,500 troops in Iraq.
The two countries agreed in April this year to change the US military's mission, following a decision to focus on training and advising Iraqi security forces. However, no timetable has been set for this transitional period.
In 2017, Iraq declared victory over Islamic State. However, ISIS is still present in the region, having recently carried out a suicide attack on a market in the Iraqi capital, killing at least 30 people.
Prior to the announcement of the end of the military mission in Iraq, the Biden administration had announced the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan after a 20-year deployment, which was sent to Afghanistan by former US President George W. Bush following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. ; And in less than two years, Bush launched the Iraq war.
Biden has vowed to continue counterterrorism operations in the Middle East, with a focus on China, which has been described as a long-term security challenge.
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