US Reaffirms Security Ties with Iraq, 22 NOV

US Reaffirms Security Ties with Iraq

Nov. 21, 2024

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) The U.S. reaffirmed its commitment to continued security ties with Iraq, as a State Department spokesperson told Kurdistan 24 in an email on Wednesday. 

“Our routine diplomatic engagement with the Government of Iraq continues,” the spokesperson said.

“We are focused on transitioning to an enduring bilateral security partnership that serves Iraqi and U.S. interests.”

After Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shi’a al-Sudani took office in October 2022, his government pressed to end the presence of the Defeat-ISIS Coalition in Iraq, and negotiations on the issue followed.

Iranian pressure was likely part of the reason why Sudani made such a request. Tehran seeks to undermine the U.S. position in the Middle East.

Moreover, as the U.S. agreed to hold discussions on Sudani’s request, pro-Iranian elements sought—wrongly—to portray them as talks about terminating the U.S. military presence in Iraq. 

They are, however, not about U.S. troops pulling out of Iraq. The Obama administration did that in 2011—and was obliged to return U.S. forces to the country in 2014, after ISIS emerged in Syria and then seized one-third of Iraq.

Rather, the negotiations are about a transition from a U.S. troop presence based on the anti-ISIS Coalition to one based on bilateral security ties.

As Col. Myles Caggins (US Army, Retired), a former Spokesperson for the anti-ISIS Coalition and now Spokesperson for APIKUR (Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan), earlier advised Kurdistan 24, “This big international coalition, with all the flags, that will end, but the presence of and the partnership with international military forces will continue.”

This approach is welcomed by the Kurdish leadership. It believes the continued presence of U.S. troops is important for Iraq’s stability, including the well-being of the Kurdistan Region. 

Indeed, in July, the long-time Kurdish leader, Masoud Barzani, now head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), made a rare visit to Baghdad. The U.S. ambassador, Alina Romanowski, was among those he met.

A key part of Barzani’s mission was to explain the need for U.S. troops to remain in Iraq, as he stressed that their presence, along with that of other Coalition forces, was vital to ensuring Iraq's stability and promoting its national interests.

Current U.S. Position Same as Before

This issue arose at Monday’s State Department press briefing, when a journalist began his question by saying that an Iraqi diplomat had told him that Baghdad had asked to postpone the next set of talks and to change their venue from Baghdad to Washington. The journalist asked the Spokesperson, Matthew Miller, for confirmation.

Miller responded that he would “take” the question—that is, provide an answer, after consulting those working on the issue. Kurdistan 24 asked to receive the answer, as well.

The answer suggests that nothing has really changed. The spokesperson’s e-mailed response took the U.S. position back to Sept. 27, when “we announced that the United States and Iraq decided on a two-phase transition plan for CJTF-OIR [i.e. Coalition] operations in Iraq.”

Three days later, on Sept. 30, the foreign ministers of the Defeat-ISIS Coalition met in Washington and confirmed the agreement: the Coalition would remain in most of Iraq until Sept. 2025, but the Coalition would stay in the Kurdistan Region for at least one year longer. The fight against ISIS in Syria is continuing, and Coalition forces there are supplied from the Kurdistan Region.

Thus, as Wednesday’s email from the spokesperson explained, referring to the Sept. 30 conference, “This ministerial demonstrated the Coalition partners’ recognition of the threat ISIS still presents and their sustained commitment to diminishing ISIS’s capabilities around the world.”

The spokesperson also stressed the broad nature of relations between the U.S. and Iraq.

“Through our comprehensive 360-degree partnership,” he said, “we can advance Iraq’s stability, security and sovereignty, which are critical to Iraq and to the region.”