The United States and Iraq held their first round of talks on the future of the US military presence in Iraq. Meanwhile, Baghdad discussed its expectations for creating a timeframe for the withdrawal of US troops.
On Saturday, high-ranking officials of the US-led coalition and the Iraqi military forces met with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudas in Baghdad.
PM Al-Sudani said in a joint statement, “the commencement of the first round of bilateral dialogue between Iraq and the United States of America to end the coalition in Iraq.” He further added that military experts will be in charge of concluding the Global Coalition’s fight against Daesh (ISIL).
Currently, there are 2,500 US troops deployed in Iraq. The coalition was formed in 2014 to help Iraq’s government defeat ISIL.
The US government responded by saying that it aims to set up a committee to negotiate the terms for concluding the mission, which was first discussed last year. The US highlighted that the decision to talk about pulling out of Iraq was made before October 7. However, Iraq and ISIL claimed credit for the move, claiming it “proves that the Americans only understand the language of force” and vowed to keep attacking.
