Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani is set to meet with President Joe Biden next week, where the two leaders will discuss, among a litany of topics, the future of the U.S. military’s presence in Iraq.
The U.S. has approximately 2,500 troops in Iraq who are stationed in the country to continue the defeat ISIS campaign. The two militaries have and continue to discuss the next stage of their partnership as they transition from the defeat ISIS mission to an enduring bilateral security partnership.
“We are in the middle of a very important discussion between our two militaries about how we shape the future of our cooperation and our partnership,” a senior State Department official told reporters on Thursday. “The prime minister will be meeting — obviously this will come up with the president … [Al Sudani is] meeting with the secretary of defense. So that’s likely to be a very important part of the discussions.”
Earlier this week, the Chief of the General Staff of the Iraqi Armed Forces, Gen. Abdel Emir Rashid Yarallah, and the commander of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Michael Kurilla, co-chaired the inaugural U.S.-Iraq Higher Military Commission Principals Meeting. The Higher Military Commission is a military-to-military dialogue between the two countries’ defense leaders.
“One of the factors under consideration and discussion in the HMC is how we evaluate the threat from ISIS,” the official added. “Also, what are the operational environment requirements and the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces to continue the defeat of ISIS.”
Leaders are expected to discuss several other topics as well, including energy, water, educational exchange opportunities, business investing, banking reforms, and others. The official said the discussions regarding defense are “not the primary focus of the visit.”
The debate on what the next phase of their military partnership looks like comes during the same administration that withdrew forces from Afghanistan only to watch U.S. adversaries take over the country and allow terrorist groups to grow unencumbered.
ISIS-K, the Afghanistan branch of the Islamic State that has grown under Taliban rule, has carried out two very deadly terrorist attacks in Iran and Russia this year, leaving more than 200 people dead and hundreds injured.
The U.S. military said at the time of its withdrawal that it could rely on its over-the-horizon capabilities to launch airstrikes into Afghanistan without having troops on the ground. But they have barely utilized those capabilities in Afghanistan.
“In Afghanistan, we have almost no ability to see into that country and almost no ability to strike into that country. And so, ISIS there is able to grow unabated,” former U.S. Central Command Commander Frank McKenzie, who was in the position during the withdrawal, said about two weeks ago. “There’s no pressure on them.”
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Despite the U.S.-Iraqi military work to ensure the lasting defeat of ISIS, the U.S. angered Iraqi leaders with a series of military strikes that targeted Iranian-supported and -financed militias that were carrying out attacks against U.S. forces and operating from Iraqi territory.
The Iranian-backed militias carried out roughly 170 attacks from Iraq and Syria, targeting U.S. forces in both countries and killing three U.S. troops at a U.S. base in northeast Jordan. The militias’ attacks began in the aftermath of the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza back in October, and ceased following the U.S.’s multipronged response to the death of the three service members in late January and early February.