A high-level Iraqi delegation and US officials began in Washington on Monday a new round of joint security dialogue on the withdrawal of the military international coalition from Iraq.
An official Iraqi source told Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday that the Iraqi team headed by Defense Minister Thabet Al-Abbasi and Iraqi military commanders was in Washington to discuss the presence of the international coalition forces in the country.
“The dialogue aims to start building a bilateral relationship between Iraq and the United States,” the sources said, noting that the visit comes after months of negotiations between the joint Higher Military Commission.
For her part, US Ambassador to Baghdad Alina Romanowski said on X that security officials from the United States and Iraq will discuss the future of the international coalition’s mission and strengthen bilateral security cooperation.
US-Iraqi negotiations resumed in February following Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shiaa Al-Sudani’s request to end the mission of the international coalition that was created to fight ISIS in June 2014.
Iraqi politician Bahaa Al-Araji, former deputy prime minister, said in a televised interview last week that Al-Sudani had agreed with the American side on the date for the complete withdrawal of international coalition forces from Iraq.
Meanwhile, a number of Iraqi armed factions loyal to Iran declared the end of the truce that they had concluded with Washington on behalf of the government through mediation adopted by Sudani.
The armed factions bombed the Ain al-Assad base in western Iraq with two drones without causing any losses, while both the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades and the Loyal Ansar Allah Movement announced the end of the truce with the US side, as a result of what they considered to be American procrastination regarding the withdrawal from Iraq.
