News Desk - The Cradle
Pressure has been growing inside Iraq for thousands of US combat troops to leave the country after more than 20 years
During the meetings, Sudani emphasized the readiness of Iraq’s security services to carry out their tasks independently of foreign military forces.
Sudani and Biden “confirmed that they will review several factors to determine when and how the international coalition’s mission in Iraq will end, and move in an orderly manner toward permanent bilateral security partnerships, in accordance with the Iraqi constitution and the strategic framework agreement between the United States and Iraq,” according to a White House statement.
“The partnership between Iraq and the United States is critical,” Biden said in a joint press conference. “We’ve seen over the last decade as our troops have served side-by-side to defeat ISIS. And we’ve seen this in our strategic framework agreement as well.”
In his meeting with Austin, Sudani stressed the importance of the security partnership between the US and Iraq and their cooperation in the fight against ISIS, according to a statement from the Iraqi prime minister’s office.
Austin also stressed the “US commitment to supporting Iraq in its fight against terrorism and looked forward to establishing a sustainable security relationship as part of the transitional work initiated last August, which led to the formation of the Higher Military Commission.”
Baghdad has recently intensified calls for an end to the mission of the US-led international coalition in Iraq, stressing that foreign combat troops are no longer needed given the overall defeat of ISIS in the country.
Sudani’s trip to Washington came days after he wrote a column for Foreign Affairs announcing that the joint US–Iraqi Supreme Military Committee had agreed on a timetable to see the exit of foreign troops from Iraq.
About 2,500 US troops remain in Iraq, defying a 2020 parliamentary vote to withdraw permission for the US to operate on Iraqi soil. The vote came in response to the US assassination of Iranian anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani and deputy leader of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in Baghdad.
In his meeting with Biden, the Iraqi premier also discussed the Israeli genocide in Gaza and the Iranian retaliatory strikes against Israel over the weekend.
“Under the spirit of partnership, our views might be divergent about what’s happening in the region,” Sudani said. “But we are certain of international law, international humanitarian law, and the responsibility to protect under the law of war, and we reject any aggression against civilians, especially women and children.”
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