The United States and Iraq began talks this Saturday, January 27, to end the international military coalition led by the United States in Iraqi territory against the Islamic State jihadist group. Now they seek its replacement by comprehensive bilateral relations.
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January 27, 2024 will go down in history as the day of the first round of bilateral dialogue between Iraq and the United States with the intention of ending the mission of the international coalition against the Islamic State (IS), a group considered a terrorist, in the Arab country, as reported by the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia al Sudani.
These negotiations that began in August 2023 – and which were stalled by the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza – achieved the creation of the Higher Military Committee (HMC, in English) to evaluate three levels: the threat and danger of the Islamic State, the strengthening of Iraqi troops and the transition of responsibility in the fight against IS, which achieves the departure of foreign troops in Iraq.
The story first dates back to the military intervention ordered in 2003 by the then president of the United States, George W. Bush, to overthrow the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, with the justification of preventing the use and manufacture of weapons of mass destruction by of his regime (something that could never be proven).
In 2011, US troops withdrew, but then returned to the Arab country in 2014, within the framework of the alliance and at the request of the Iraqi Government to confront the threat of the Islamic State jihadist group.
After the territorial defeat of that jihadist organization in 2017, alliance troops have adopted an advisory and training role for Iraqi forces, and their permanence in the country has been questioned.
In 2024, a decade after the start of the mission, military specialists will be responsible for completing it and ensuring a specific schedule for this purpose, while both Iraq and the US and partner countries will move towards comprehensive relations, beyond security.
What's going on?
The Reuters agency reported that, despite the fact that attacks against the United States by Iraqi militant groups backed by Iran in Iraq continue – a cessation that was understood as a precondition for negotiating the end of the coalition – the Government American has decided to negotiate and announce it in a letter from Washington's ambassador to Iraq, Alina Romanowski, to the Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fuad Hussein.
Mohammed al Sudani, Prime Minister of Iraq, stated in Baghdad that the Islamic State “no longer represents a threat to the Iraqi State” and asserted that the Iraqi Armed Forces “are capable of fully assuming the tasks of maintaining security and stability and repelling threats” without the need for intervention by foreign forces, so he considered that the time had come for a “transition.
This is the first step in a series of dialogues that will last several months, although at the moment there is no clarity about the imminence of the withdrawal of US troops, which are made up of 2,500 soldiers in Iraq, according to Reuters; and whose function is to advise local forces to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State, powerful in 2014 in several parts of Iraq and Syria before being defeated.
The future of the troops of other countries, mostly European, that are part of this coalition led by the United States is also unclear, but the truth is that the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, through negotiations, has requested the prompt departure of US-led coalition forces.
The situation in Gaza, a complication
Iraq, an ally of both Tehran and Washington, is experiencing an escalation of attacks between militias that have attacked US forces about 150 times to pressure them for the support they provide to Israel, since October 7, 2023, when the escalation of the war in the Gaza Strip. The United States response has been retaliatory attacks.
After the tension unleashed by the exchanges of attacks between the forces of that military alliance and pro-government Iraqi Shiite militia groups, the president of Iraq, Abdellatif Rashid, asked to “create a specific work agenda” for the international coalition led by the United States. And, on Wednesday, January 24, the Iraqi Parliament asked the Executive to accelerate a resolution approved in 2020 for its withdrawal.
Washington, reluctant to negotiate under fire with the Iraqi militias, especially because of the consequences against its regional rivals, including Iran, is now willing to seek to reduce political pressure.
For its part, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry promised to guarantee the security of the coalition's advisors during the duration of the process, a commitment that the pro-Iranian militia group Islamic Resistance of Iraq considered a “historic betrayal” against the country. .
With Efe and Reuters
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