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US President Donald Trump was expected to announce
further troop withdrawals Wednesday from Afghanistan and from Iraq,
where several thousand US troops hunting down jihadist sleeper
cells have faced increasing attacks blamed on pro-Iran
factions.
The deadly bomb and rocket attacks have put additional pressure
on Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi, who has pledged to rein
in rogue groups pledged to fight the US military presence.
During Washington talks with Kadhemi last month, Trump said US
forces would leave Iraq but gave no timetable or specific troop
levels.
A senior administration official told reporters that the
president would make an announcement on Wednesday, but offered no
additional details.
The US has already been steadily downsizing its troop levels in
Iraq in recent months as Iraqis take over more combat and training
roles from foreign forces.
“These withdrawals are part of the agreed transition of the
US-led coalition’s role in Iraq,” an Iraqi official told AFP ahead
of Trump’s announcement on Wednesday, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
The US deployed thousands of forces to Iraq in 2014 to lead a
military intervention against the Islamic State group, which had
swept across a third of the country.
Even after Baghdad declared IS defeated in late 2017, the US and
other coalition troops continued supporting Iraqi forces with
airstrikes, drone surveillance and training to prevent a jihadist
resurgence.
– Shrinking presence –
By late 2018, there were an estimated 5,200 troops still
stationed in Iraq, making up the bulk of the 7,500 coalition forces
there, according to US officials.
Over the past year, dozens of rocket attacks have targeted those
forces as well as the US embassy in Baghd ad’s high-security Green
Zone, killing at least five military personnel — three Americans,
one Briton and one Iraqi.
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US officials have blamed the violence on hardline factions close
to Tehran, which as Washington’s longtime foe has repeatedly
demanded that all US troops leave the Middle East.
Tensions skyrocketed early this year when a US drone strike near
Baghdad airport killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, prompting
Tehran to mount a retaliatory missile strike against US troops in
western Iraq.
Enraged by the US strike, the Iraqi parliament voted to oust all
foreign troops still left in Iraq, although Kadhemi’s government —
seen as friendly to the US — has stonewalled that decision.
Instead, the coalition has been quietly drawing down troops on
its own since March, consolidating its presence from a dozen bases
across the country to just three.
Some troops were redeployed to the main bases in Baghdad, Arbil
in the north and Ain al-Asad in the west, but most were transferred
outside of Iraq, US officials told AFP.
They said the downsizing was long-planned as IS had been
defeated, but admitted that the withdrawal timeline was accelerated
in response to rocket attacks and the fear Covid-19 could spread
among military partners.
France has already withdrawn its troops and Britain has
significantly downsized to just 100 personnel in recent months.
British, French and US special forces are expected to remain
deployed in undisclosed locations around the country, diplomatic
sources said.
Still, attacks on US targets have continued. Late Tuesday, a
bomb targeted a supply convoy heading to an Iraqi base where US
troops are deployed, killing one member of the Iraqi security
forces.
– Drawdown in Afghanistan? –
The US president is also set to announce further withdrawals
from Afghanistan in the coming days, the senior administration
official said.
Washington currently has 8,600 soldiers deployed in accordance
with a bilateral agreement signed in February between Washington
and the Taliban.
The Pentagon said in August that its goal was to get down to
fewer than 5,000 troops as inter-Afghan peace talks progress.
Trump previously mentioned in an interview with Axios that the
White House aimed to reach 4,000 to 5,000 troops in Afghanistan
before the US presidential election on November 3.
Under the US-Taliban deal, all foreign troops must leave the
country by the spring of 2021, in exchange for security commitments
from the militants.
Trump, who is trailing Democratic rival Joe Biden in the opinion
polls, has previously promised to bring troops home in a bid to end
what he has called America’s endless wars.
AFP
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