US troops no longer needed: Iraq PM
Published: 07:09 AM,Sep 17,2024 | EDITED : 11:09 AM,Sep 17,2024
Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani
Iraq’s prime minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani said US troops are no longer needed in his country because they have largely succeeded in vanquishing ISIS, and he plans to announce a timetable for their withdrawal soon.
He spoke to Bloomberg Television in Baghdad on Sunday.
The US has about 2,500 military personnel in Iraq, a legacy of an American-led coalition formed in 2014 to combat the group widely known as ISIS. While the organization is much weaker than a decade ago — when it held major cities and provinces in Iraq and Syria and shocked the world by posting beheadings online — its fighters still operate in both nations.
The presence in Iraq of soldiers from the US and other countries is politically sensitive and many civilians and politicians want them to leave. Yet some US lawmakers have voiced unease about a total military exit, saying it could allow ISIS to regroup.
“The justifications are no longer there,” Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani told Bloomberg TV in an interview in Baghdad on Sunday. “There is no need for a coalition. We have moved on from wars to stability. ISIS is not really representing a challenge.”
He discussed the issue with US President Joe Biden when they met in Washington in April and their countries have reached an understanding on the withdrawal, Al-Sudani said. His defense minister, Thabit Al-Abbasi, told Al-Hadath television this month that the troops will be out by 2026.
The US says talks with Iraq about the coalition and when it will end are ongoing. The two governments are working on an “orderly” transition to a “more enduring bilateral security partnership,” a State Department spokesperson said this month.
The US has had a significant military presence in Iraq for almost all the period since its 2003 invasion to overthrow then-President Saddam Hussein. Most soldiers left in 2011, before some were brought back three years later to fight ISIS.
He spoke to Bloomberg Television in Baghdad on Sunday.
The US has about 2,500 military personnel in Iraq, a legacy of an American-led coalition formed in 2014 to combat the group widely known as ISIS. While the organization is much weaker than a decade ago — when it held major cities and provinces in Iraq and Syria and shocked the world by posting beheadings online — its fighters still operate in both nations.
The presence in Iraq of soldiers from the US and other countries is politically sensitive and many civilians and politicians want them to leave. Yet some US lawmakers have voiced unease about a total military exit, saying it could allow ISIS to regroup.
“The justifications are no longer there,” Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani told Bloomberg TV in an interview in Baghdad on Sunday. “There is no need for a coalition. We have moved on from wars to stability. ISIS is not really representing a challenge.”
He discussed the issue with US President Joe Biden when they met in Washington in April and their countries have reached an understanding on the withdrawal, Al-Sudani said. His defense minister, Thabit Al-Abbasi, told Al-Hadath television this month that the troops will be out by 2026.
The US says talks with Iraq about the coalition and when it will end are ongoing. The two governments are working on an “orderly” transition to a “more enduring bilateral security partnership,” a State Department spokesperson said this month.
The US has had a significant military presence in Iraq for almost all the period since its 2003 invasion to overthrow then-President Saddam Hussein. Most soldiers left in 2011, before some were brought back three years later to fight ISIS.