new era; A review of Iraq’s foreign policy after ISIS: Part II
| Mustafa al-Kazemi, who was close to Ahmad al-Chalabi (chairman of the National Congress of Iraq and one of the founders of the Shia House in Iraq), had been able to expand his relations with the Americans during al-Chalabi's cooperation with the CIA with the aim of overthrowing Saddam's regime. |
According to the international group Tasnim news agency, in the first part of this report, we discussed the internal differences of Iraqi political parties and currents at the time of the election of Adel Abdul Mahdi as the prime minister, the existence of the American factor and the separation of foreign policy from domestic policy during the fifth government of Iraq.
In addition to the American-Zionist factor, the increase in internal differences and the incitement of the Tashreini demonstrators by Sadr led to the burning of the offices of parties close to the resistance groups. Even though the political leaders of the above parties had a significant impact on the liberation of the areas occupied by ISIS, the extensive media support and the active role of the American Embassy in Baghdad narrowed the field for the free activity of Abdul Mahdi’s government.
After the resignation of the third prime minister of the parliamentary system, the country of Iraq suffered from the absence of a prime minister for six months. After the martyrdom of Haj Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, the fate of the Tashreen protests was left unfinished and it escalated to another protest, namely the protest against the presence of American occupying forces in Iraq.
In the following note, we will examine the foreign policy of the Iraqi government during the leadership of Mustafa Al-Kazemi, the former prime minister of Iraq.
Al-Kazemi Prime Minister’s margin
Mustafa Al-Kazemi, who was close to Ahmed Al-Chalabi (Chairman of the Iraqi National Congress and one of the founders of Bayt Shia in Iraq) during Al-Chalabi’s activity in the CIA with the aim of overthrowing Saddam’s regime Hossein was able to expand his relations with the Americans. Al-Kazemi’s entry into the Iraqi National Intelligence Service was accompanied by the change of Zuhair al-Gharbawi, the head of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service. At the end of his term of office, Al-Gharbawi had entered into conflict with several resistance groups. The entry of ISIS into Iraq, non-cooperation with the resistance forces and increasing international pressure led to the removal of Al-Gharbawi from the position of head of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service.
Al-Kazemi’s ideas and thoughts could be guessed from his notes on Al-Monitor website. He had a negative position towards the resistance groups, but when he was appointed as the head of the National Intelligence Service by former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, he was forced to cooperate with the resistance groups.
The consequences of inconsistency with the leaders of the resistance during the period of ISIS control over the north and west of Iraq, led to the breakdown of relations with people from the Iraqi Hezbollah, the Badr Organization, Najaba and other branches of the resistance. Finally, the martyrdom of Lieutenant General Hajj Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, which was completely directed by the Americans, caused the media close to the resistance groups to express their opposition to his prime ministership by proposing Al-Kazemi’s name as a prime ministerial candidate.
Iraq’s foreign policy during the era of Mustafa al-Kazemi
Al-Kazemi’s foreign policy can be divided into two The section of the presidency of Trump and the presidency of Biden divided:
The first part; Al-Kazemi government’s foreign policy at the same time as Trump’s presidency
The structure and foundation of the Al-Kazemi government’s foreign policy is very similar to Haider al-Abadi , the former prime minister of this country. Al-Kazemi, who had received the support of Moqtada Sadr, the leader of the Sauron Movement, from the beginning, appeared to be highly critical of Iran. After a few hours, he went to the Iran-Iraq border and threatened the resistance groups from there. Al-Kazemi, due to the relationship he had established with the American CIA and also by taking advantage of Adel Abdul Mahdi’s experience in face-to-face confrontation with the Trump administration, had come to believe that he would put the support of the Americans on his agenda so that his government would last and be able to to experience a longer period in the position of prime minister.
The second part; The foreign policy of the Al-Kazemi government at the same time as the presidency of Biden
The change of government in America, the level of Iraq’s relations with different governments transformed Al-Kazemi, who was trying to win Trump’s opinion, showed another side of his government’s initiatives by electing Biden as the US president.
in the framework of the new regional strategy of the Biden government, Al-Kazemi sent a message to Iran and Saudi Arabia to start negotiations to restore relations in Baghdad. Al-Kazemi’s action was carried out with the aim of bringing closer the views of Iran and Saudi Arabia in Iraq. The conclusion of the five rounds of negotiations between Iran and Saudi Arabia in Baghdad forced Al-Kazemi to propose negotiations between Iran and the United States in Baghdad, which, of course, was not accepted by the Iranian side.
Hosting officials from the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia is one of the strong points of Al-Kazemi government in the case of foreign policy towards its neighbors.
Apart from the security issues, Al-Kazemi sought to overcome religious conflicts to the point where he proposed the construction of the Mashhad-Karbala-Mecca freeway.
Relations with America
As mentioned, the foreign policy of Al-Kazemi government after the election of Biden, a fundamental change Found. The parties close to the resistance groups put additional pressure on the current government with the aim of withdrawing the American forces. For this purpose, the then government formed a team of experts to review the initiative to withdraw American forces in exchange for economic and military participation.
Strategic agreement
- Strategic agreement “1”
Since 2005, when the new regime was established in Iraq, a strategic agreement was signed between Baghdad and Washington at three times. The first strategic agreement, between 2008 and 2011, when a part of it reached the implementation stage, was trying to achieve several important goals.
Nuri al-Maliki, who had responded positively to the demand of the resistance groups for the withdrawal of American soldiers, set a condition for America that if the demand There is no way for them to reduce their casualties in Iraq except to leave Iraq.
In 2011, the American occupying forces officially withdrew from Iraq, but they continued to support Sunni extremist groups, which eventually led to ISIS entering Mosul. and brought the west of Iraq with it, so that for the umpteenth time behind the promise of the Americans to the Iraqi authorities and people, it was proven.
- strategic agreement “2”
after The martyrdom of General Hajj Qassem Soleimani, the pressure of the resistance groups on Al-Kazemi’s government caused the fifth government of Iraq to directly enter into negotiations with the United States on two occasions with the aim of withdrawing the occupying forces.
At that time, the analysis of the Arab countries, which did not exclude Iraq, was that Trump would win the 2020 elections. On this basis, and in order to prevent American pressure on Iraq to normalize relations with the Zionist regime, Mustafa Al-Kazemi visited Trump a week after the normalization of relations between the UAE and Bahrain with the Zionist regime in the form of the Ibrahim Agreement.
While the satisfaction of Iraqi political groups on the selection of Mustafa Al-Kazemi as prime minister was conditional on holding early elections; The evidence indicated that the position of prime minister liked Al-Kazemi, and this made him finally decide to seek Trump’s approval for the continuation of his government.
During the meeting between Trump and the Iraqi Prime Minister, the President of the United States made the promise of a 3-year withdrawal of the coalition forces, but the fate of this promise became unknown after Biden won the election.
Al-Kazemi went to Washington for the second time as Iraq’s prime minister a year after Biden was elected as president. . The Americans, who infiltrated the security institutions of Iraq due to Al-Kazemi’s presence at the head of the government, agreed to the withdrawal of half of the combat forces, so that their number in the American bases in Iraq would increase from 5,200 to 2,500.
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Strategic Agreement “2” citing the strategic agreement of 2008 by Joe Biden, the President of the United States and Mustafa Al-Kazemi, first The Iraqi minister signed.
With the end of al-Kazemi’s prime ministership, the withdrawal of the American forces suffered an ambiguous fate. The cause of this ambiguity was undoubtedly behind the promise of the Americans, who insisted on the continuation of their military presence in Iraq under various pretexts.
In addition to these, the Americans, after the end of Abdul Mahdi’s prime ministership and al-Kazemi’s assumption of office, tried to send a flood of western businessmen and investors to Iraq by providing an investment environment, something that during the prime minister’s term Abdul Mahdi was restrained by his efforts to strengthen cooperation with Arab countries and China.
The strategic agreement between Iraq and the United States was not limited to these two periods and a new round of negotiations began during the time of Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, the prime minister of the sixth government, which will be analyzed and explained in detail in the third part of this note.
Relations with Europe
The prime minister of Iraq understood the sensitivity of resistance groups to the presence of the United States. He did not want to use resistance groups as a barrier against the return of terrorists , turned to create competition through the maximum attraction of European countries in order to destroy the influence of America in the media.
Al-Kazemi’s meeting with the Chancellor of Germany/Merkel: We support the Iraqi government for economic reform
During Al-Kazemi’s consecutive trips to France, Germany and England, both sides They signed a memorandum of understanding on increasing military and security cooperation. In this way, Al-Kazemi pursued two goals:
1. The ideal of the resistance groups is based on the struggle against America, the Zionist regime, and England; Therefore, we cannot expect that this ideal will suddenly change and take a European direction.
2. The European troika does not intend to confront the American forces, but Al-Kazemi created a reasonable dispersion for his government. He believed that this method would lead to correcting the path of the Americans, so that in case of violation or non-compliance with the regional conditions of Iraq, the government of that time would have provided a more suitable environment for increasing their movements.
Relations with Arab countries
Mustafa Al-Kazemi, in addition to having Moqtada Sadr’s support for being prime minister, was also aware of his capacity and social base. Therefore, Al-Kazemi tried to get Moqtadi’s satisfaction. Sadr emphasized the idea of turning Iraq’s foreign relations towards Arab countries. Therefore, Al-Kazemi strengthened relations with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE at high levels. He did not want to lag behind the support of the Arab countries in the media sector and the streaming they do. by land, holding and participating in numerous Arab summits, trying to resolve the differences between Iran and Saudi Arabia, connecting Arab countries with Iran through the Baghdad summit, activating Basra port and attracting a huge number of investors, including programs Al-Kazemi’s government was on the way to improve relations with the Arabs.
But Al-Kazemi’s most ambitious action was holding a tripartite meeting called “New Dinner” with King Abdullah of Jordan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi participated. According to the claims of some Iraqi media, the three parties reached an agreement in this meeting on the plan to transfer Basra’s oil through the pipeline through the occupied territories to Egypt. This action triggered a strong reaction against al-Kazemi in the Iraqi media, and the media aligned with the resistance axis considered this project a suspicious step in the direction of normalizing relations between Baghdad and Tel Aviv.
Despite holding elections in 2021, the country of Iraq He could not benefit from the new government for one year. Either when the Sadr movement was present in the parliament or when 73 of their representatives resigned from the parliament, al-Kazemi did not get an acceptable score for the continuation of his government. Lack of sufficient political support, strained relations with resistance groups, creating an atmosphere of economic corruption, political parties revoked al-Kazemi’s prime ministerial license for the second time. It was considered one of the most marginal governments in Iraq. Finally, on October 27, 2022, the mission of this controversial government ended with the election of Mohammad Shia al-Sudani as the prime minister.
| © | Webangah News Hub has translated this news from the source of Tasnim News Agency |
