Baghdad and Washington close in on US troop withdrawal deal

One sticking point is an airbase in Erbil the US says it needs to fight ISIS in Syria

A handover from US-led coalition troops to Iraqi security forces at Camp Taji, Iraq, in 2020. Reuters

Baghdad and Washington are closing in on a deal that would see the US-led coalition end its presence in Iraq after a decade of fighting ISIS.

An Iraqi delegation spent Monday and Tuesday in Washington for the latest round of talks to wind down the coalition and establish new bilateral security partnerships with each country that still has troops there.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani is under increasing domestic pressure to agree on a timeline for the withdrawal of foreign forces, most of which are American, but the US is wary about pulling out of Iraq amid a continued ISIS presence.

Iraqi politician Jawad Al Bulani, who is on the parliamentary security and defence committee, said Baghdad and Washington “are putting the finishing touches on the withdrawal deal of all foreign troops in the coalition in Iraq”.

“They are in the final stages now to go ahead with the deal,” Mr Al Bulani told The National.

Both sides “have the perception that the mission of these troops is nearing its end", he said.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin held talks with Iraqi Defence Minister Thabet Al Abbasi on Tuesday, Pentagon press secretary Maj Gen Pat Ryder said.

Maj Gen Ryder declined to comment when asked about a timeline for withdrawal, but he emphasised what is at stake if the coalition does leave Iraq.

“This is an international coalition that 10 years ago came together to defeat ISIS, and so part of this is ensuring that ISIS can't resurge,” he told The National.

“We know that they remain committed to resurging, and we know that they remain committed to directing and inspiring attacks.”

Sources close to the Iraqi government confirmed to The National that Baghdad and Washington have agreed to start withdrawing some of the US troops operating under the coalition.

But some US and international forces would remain under new security agreements, the sources said. One probable role would be training Iraqi security forces.

Washington is open to withdrawing its forces from Ain Al Asad airbase in Al Anbar governorate, western Iraq, the Iraqi sources said.

However, Al Harir Air Base in Erbil remains a point of contention between the two sides, the sources said.

The US insists its presence there is needed to co-ordinate operations against ISIS in Syria, but Baghdad says it did not agree to that when coalition forces went to Iraq in 2014.

US combat troops left Iraq in 2011, eight years after the US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

Thousands of US and international troops were reposted to the region in 2014 to help fight ISIS after it seized much of Iraq and Syria.

The extremist group was defeated in 2017 and driven out of the main cities it captured in Iraq, such as Mosul and Tikrit, but it has maintained a presence elsewhere in Iraq and Syria.

About 2,500 US troops are stationed in Iraq as part of the international coalition.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Iraq wants troops from the US-led military coalition to begin withdrawing in September and to formally end the coalition's work by September 2025.

Quoting four Iraqi sources, the news agency said some US forces would probably remain in a newly negotiated advisory capacity.

A US soldier chats with an Iraqi boy in the northern Al Sukkar neighborhood of Mosul. AFP

Despite increasing security concerns about the country's ability to fight ISIS, Mr Al Sudani faces continued pressure to get US troops out.

Last week, US and coalition forces at Ain Al Asad Airbase intercepted two drones in the first attack against US forces in Iraq since early February.

Iraqi militias have launched a wave of attacks on US interests after the start of the war on Gaza in October, demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian territory run by their ally Hamas.

Many observers saw the Iraqi factions' attacks on US targets as a tactic aimed at pressuring Washington into full withdrawal from the country.

The US responded by carrying out strikes, mostly in Syria but also Iraq.

An unannounced deal in February that involved Iraqi factions, the Iraqi government, Tehran and the US, led to a halt in fighting for months, but the lull is slowly ending as the violence in Gaza spills over into the region.

The pause is also due to Iraqi government initiating talks with the US to agree on a timeline for withdrawing troops.

On January 27, Iraq and the US held the first round of talks to end the international coalition's mission.

The talks were paused after the deadly drone attack the next day on a US base in Jordan

If the current talks fail to reach an agreement, more attacks are widely expected after several warnings by Iraqi militias.

Last month, Qais Al Khazali, leader of the powerful, Iran-backed group Asa'ib Ahl Al Haq, warned that all US interests in the region, particularly in Iraq, will be targets if it supports any Israeli military operation against Lebanon.

Kataib Sayyid Al Shuhada was another faction to issue a warning against the US presence in Iraq, in June.

“The presence of American forces in Iraq – which are occupying forces – is categorically rejected,” the group’s spokesman told Iraq’s Shafaq news agency.

He said Kataib Sayyid Al Shuhada was “working to remove those forces through factional operations".