WASHINGTON: The Pentagon on Monday categorically said it was not planning to withdraw its 2,500 troops from Iraq, despite Baghdad’s announcement it would begin the process of ending the U.S. led military coalition from the country.
Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder told a news briefing, that right now there are no plans for withdrawal. He added that US troops and allies will continue to remain very focused on the defeat ISIS mission.
He noted that U.S. forces are in Iraq at the request of its government.
The US military official said he was not aware of any notification by Baghdad to the Department of Defense about a decision to remove U.S. troops from Iraq.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s office on Friday announced the measures to remove the U.S. forces from the country following a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad that was denounced by the government.
The Pentagon said the strike killed a militia leader responsible for attacks on U.S. troops in the country.
Committee to be formed to end presence of foreign troops in Iraq
Sudani’s office in a statement said that a committee would be formed to permanently end the arrangements of the presence of the international coalition forces in Iraq.
The prime minister in the statement said that Iraq stresses its firm position in ending the existence of the international coalition after the justifications for its existence have ended.
The U.S. strike on Thursday, came four years after another one in Baghdad that killed a prominent Iranian general, sparked an outrage among Iraqi groups that demanded the government to end the presence of the coalition in Iraq.
The strike was authorized by President Joe Biden and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin before Austin’s hospitalization on New Year’s Day.
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The U.S. has a presence of 900 troops in Syria in addition to its troops in Iraq to assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large parts of both states before being defeated.
Since the Israel-Hamas war started in October, the U.S. military has come under attack at least 100 times in Iraq and Syria, usually with rockets and drones.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s has limited control over some Iraqi factions, whose support he required to win power a year ago.
Last month, the United States also carried out air strikes in Iraq after a drone attack by Iraqi militias left one U.S. service personnel in critical condition and injured two others.
