Associated Press: Baghdad and Washington disagree on the timetable for the withdrawal of American forces

According to the report of Fars News Agency International Group, an American media quoted an Iraqi official as claiming that there is a difference between the governments of Washington and Baghdad over the timing of the withdrawal of international coalition forces from Iraq.

The Iraqi government announced on Thursday evening that it is going to start official talks with the United States to reduce the presence of US-led international coalition forces in Iraq.

The US Department of Defense In a statement without directly referring to his intention to reduce his presence in Iraq, he confirmed that the High Military Committee (HMC) working group meetings between the two sides will begin in the coming days.

While In the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iraq, it is stated that the two sides have reached an agreement with the United States of America on the gradual reduction of the number of “international coalition advisers” and the end of the “mission to combat ISIS”. The meetings of the HMC working group will make it possible to move towards a “sustainable and bilateral security partnership” between the two sides.

America has been continuously present in Iraq since 2003. Although all US combat forces left Iraq in 2011, some of them returned to this country in 2014 under the pretext of fighting ISIS.

An Iraqi government official told the Associated Press today. He said that Iraq has sent an official letter to the Safi Palace in November 2023 for the withdrawal of the coalition forces. They disagree with Baghdad authorities on the time of departure. The US has demanded a 2-5 year time frame for the withdrawal, while the Iraqis are demanding a faster withdrawal. The countries have entered the country under the name of the anti-terrorism coalition, which until this moment has not been explicitly said.

Baghdad and Washington on July 26, agreed that American troops will leave Iraq by the end of this year and only a few American troops will remain to advise and train the Iraqi forces. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Organization, were martyred. In response to this crime, the Iraqi parliament approved the plan to expel American soldiers from the country in January 2018.

Despite several rounds of strategic negotiations between Baghdad and Washington to end the US military presence in Iraq, the US is still present in Iraq in violation of this resolution. Although the Iraqi authorities have announced the beginning of the process of withdrawal of American troops, and sometimes the news of the withdrawal of several American combat units is reported in the media. The country has nothing to do with the recent US attacks on the resistance forces due to the withdrawal of the coalition forces. He claimed that these negotiations have been going on for several months.

Associated Press wrote that even if America withdraws from its bases in Iraq, they will probably continue their presence in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, which is related They will maintain a better relationship with Washington.

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