Biden, Kadhimi seal agreement to end US combat mission in Iraq
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - US President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi sealed an agreement on Monday formally ending the US combat mission in Iraq by the end of 2021, but US forces will still operate there in an advisory role.
The agreement comes at a politically delicate time for the Iraqi government and could be a boost for Baghdad. Kadhimi has faced increasing pressure from Iran-aligned parties and paramilitary groups who oppose the US military role in the country.
Biden and Kadhimi met in the Oval Office for their first face-to-face talks as part of a strategic dialogue between the United States and Iraq.
"Our role in Iraq will be ... to be available, to continue to train, to assist, to help and to deal with ISIS as it arises, but we’re not going to be, by the end of the year, in a combat mission," Biden told reporters as he and Kadhimi met.
The shift is not expected to have a major operational impact since the United States has already moved toward focusing on training Iraqi forces.
Still, for Biden, the deal to end the combat mission in Iraq follows decisions to carry out an unconditional withdrawal from Afghanistan and wrap up the US military mission there by the end of August.
Together with his agreement on Iraq, the Democratic president is moving to formally complete US combat missions in the two wars that then-President George W. Bush began under his watch nearly two decades ago.
In recent years, the U.S. mission was focused on helping defeat Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
The reference was reminiscent of the large "Mission Accomplished" banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier above where Bush gave a speech declaring major combat operations over in Iraq on May 1, 2003.
US diplomats and troops in Iraq and Syria were targeted in three rocket and drone attacks earlier this month. Analysts believed the attacks were part of a campaign by Iranian-backed militias.
The senior administration official would not say how many US troops would remain on the ground in Iraq for advising and training. Kadhimi also declined to speculate about a future US drawdown, saying troop levels would be determined by technical reviews.
Kadhimi, who is seen as friendly to the United States, has tried to check the power of Iran-aligned militias. But his government condemned US air strikes against Iran-aligned fighters along its border with Syria in late June, calling it a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.
"We speak to Iranians and others in an attempt to put a limit to these attacks, which are undermining Iraq and its role," he said.
The United States plans to provide Iraq with 500,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech, COVID-19 vaccine under the global COVAX vaccine-sharing program. Biden said the doses should arrive in a couple of weeks.
The United States will also provide $5.2 million to help fund a UN mission to monitor October elections in Iraq.