A recent round of attacks against US forces could speed up the coalition's withdrawal.
United States and Iraq are starting discussions about withdrawing the forces of the US-led international coalition from Iraq, four sources told the news agency Reuters. The alliance's presence in Iraq is to be replaced by bilateral security cooperation between the United States and Iraq.
US Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski according to the sources, sent a letter about it to the Iraqi foreign minister To Fuad Hussein on Wednesday.
The negotiations are expected to last at least months. American troops are therefore not about to withdraw from the country in the near future.
The United States has about 2,500 troops in Iraq as part of a coalition that assists Iraqi forces in keeping the extremist group ISIS in check. In addition, the alliance has a few hundred soldiers, mainly from European countries. US troops withdrew from the country at the end of the Iraq war in 2011, but returned in 2014 to fight ISIS.
Alliance presence in Iraq has recently faced increasing both political pressure and violent opposition. Negotiations on the withdrawal of troops were supposed to start already in the middle of last year, but the war in Gaza delayed them.
Iran-backed armed groups have carried out about 150 strikes against US forces in Iraq and Syria during the Gaza war, and the US has responded with counterstrikes. The armed groups have contributed to the attacks against the US support for Israel.
Prime Minister of Iraq Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has called for quick talks on withdrawing coalition forces from Iraq, but the US has been reluctant to talk about a withdrawal with its forces under constant attack. It has been calculated in Washington that it would make the withdrawal look forced, which would encourage, for example, Iran.
However, according to Reuters sources, the United States has now waived this condition because there is no end in sight to the attacks and it has been feared that they will lead to an even deeper cycle of violence.
American according to an administration source, the negotiations between the United States and Iraq assess the ability of the Iraqi forces to fight against ISIS and build the countries' future security relations.
“We have been discussing this for months. The timing is unrelated to the recent attacks. The US maintains full right to self-defense during negotiations,” the source said.
It is hoped that the start of negotiations will reduce political pressure on the Iraqi government and attacks on US forces.
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