A decade after the Iraqi government asked for help with their struggle against the Islamic State terrorist group, officials in Washington and Baghdad are set to launch discussions that could lead to the departure of some 2,500 American military personnel who remain in Iraq.
The U.S. troop presence has been in the spotlight after a series of military clashes between U.S. forces and powerful, Iran-linked Shiite militias in Iraq, which have intensified during the more than three months of fighting between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip. There have been repeated calls in Iraq’s parliament for the U.S. deployment to end.
In August 2023, the U.S. and Iraq agreed to form a Higher Military Commission (HMC) to ensure a transition to what Pentagon officials called “an enduring bilateral security partnership” between Washington and Baghdad. But American officials said it was not determined that the talks would result in a pullout of U.S. forces.
“The HMC meeting is not a negotiation about the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq,” a senior Defense Department official said Thursday. “Our Iraqi partners have assured us of their commitment towards working together to shape this future U.S. military presence to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS.”
But Baghdad and Washington don’t seem to be on the same sheet of music when it comes to the U.S. military presence in Iraq. On Thursday, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said the joint discussions will include “a specific and clear timeline” that specifies how long the “Defeat ISIS” coalition will remain in the country.
The discussions will begin the “gradual and deliberate reduction” of U.S. and allied military advisers in Iraq and the end of the military mission of the coalition against ISIS, the Foreign Ministry officials said.
American troops have increasingly come under fire from Iran-backed militants. Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, Iran-backed militants have struck American military installations in Iraq more than 60 times and in Syria more than 90 times, with a mix of drones, rockets, mortars and ballistic missiles, according to The Associated Press.
Dozens of American service personnel have received minor injuries including brain injuries from the militia attacks against U.S. bases there, and one U.S. service member has been seriously injured since the militias began their attacks, officials said.
But U.S. officials insisted the upcoming discussions are not the result of the latest fighting in Iraq. At its height, ISIS militants controlled an area in Iraq and Syria that was the size of Kentucky. Today, the terror group is a shell of its former self.
The U.S. formally ended its combat mission against the Islamic State in December 2021 but says a residual troop presence is needed to advise Iraqi and Kurdish security forces.
“We know that the threat of ISIS has changed. The threat that was there 10 years ago has certainly evolved,” Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said Thursday. “This is about the future and making sure that the Iraqis are set up for success in defending their own national security and sovereignty.”
The Islamic State has about 1,000 militants remaining in its ever-shrinking territory in Syria and Iraq. Their reduced numbers mean they can’t mount the kind of violent, sweeping raids that once terrified locals, officials said.
“They still have a dynamic presence in Syria and in Iraq but not to the level where they’re operational, where they can tie their tactical engagements and battles together into an operation. Nor can they seize and hold territory,” a senior military official told reporters at the Pentagon.
American military personnel troops are in Iraq at the request of the government in Baghdad. They have not received any formal request from Iraqi officials to pull out, U.S. officials said. U.S. forces would likely remain in the semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region, whose government has closer ties to Washington.
The plan to begin a transition of the U.S. mission in Iraq was announced in August 2023 and had been scheduled to proceed later that year. The recent militia attacks on American troops in Iraq delayed the implementation of the HMC plan, U.S. officials said.
“Events in recent weeks caused everyone to have to attend to other business,” the senior Defense Department official said. “If anything, we’re here despite the militia attacks, not because of them.
• This article was based in part on wire service reports.