Iraqi PM to Focus on US Troop Withdrawal in Biden Meeting

Most US soldiers deployed in Iraq in 2014 to lead a coalition against the ISIS group have left. (AFP)
Most US soldiers deployed in Iraq in 2014 to lead a coalition against the ISIS group have left. (AFP)
TT
20

Iraqi PM to Focus on US Troop Withdrawal in Biden Meeting

Most US soldiers deployed in Iraq in 2014 to lead a coalition against the ISIS group have left. (AFP)
Most US soldiers deployed in Iraq in 2014 to lead a coalition against the ISIS group have left. (AFP)

Weakened by pro-Iran factions at home, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi will meet with US President Joe Biden on Monday to discuss a possible full US troop withdrawal from his country.

The White House talks between the two allies come just a week after a deadly attack claimed by the ISIS group, despite Baghdad declaring the extremists defeated over three years ago.

Kadhimi finds himself backed into a corner by the influence of Iraq’s other main ally -- neighboring Iran, which has long seen the United States as its arch-nemesis.

Despite shared enmity on the part of the US and Shiite Iran toward a resilient IS, Kadhimi is under intense pressure from pro-Tehran armed factions who demand the withdrawal of 2,500 US troops still deployed in Iraq.

Operating under the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a paramilitary network whose tentacles extend deep into the state, these Shiite factions stand accused of carrying out around 50 rocket and drone attacks this year against US interests in Iraq.

“If there is no significant announcement on the withdrawal of troops, I fear that the pro-Iran groups may... increase attacks on the US forces,” Iraqi researcher Sajad Jiyad told AFP.

Such concerns are given weight by the leader of one such paramilitary group, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, who recently warned that “resistance operations will continue until all American forces have left Iraqi territory”.

Most of the US soldiers, deployed in 2014 to lead an international military coalition against ISIS, left under Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, who hosted Kadhimi at the White House last August.

The troops that remain are officially classed as advisers and trainers for Iraq’s army and counter-terrorism units.

‘Enduring US presence’
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, already in Washington for several days, has assured Iraqi media that “the talks will successfully establish a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces”.

But US media outlets have only pointed to a “redefinition” of the troops’ mission.

Ramzy Mardini, an Iraq specialist at the University of Chicago’s Pearson Institute, believes there will be no “radical change” in the US position.

The Biden-Kadhimi meeting may cosmetically be “shaped” to help the Iraqi premier alleviate domestic pressures, “but the reality on the ground will reflect the status quo and an enduring US presence,” he said.

Just ahead of the meeting, an armed drone -- an increasingly favored form of attack -- targeted a base used by US personnel at Al-Harir in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region on Saturday, but without causing casualties, according to the US-led coalition.

Mardini points to “political costs” for Biden were he to authorize a full withdrawal of US troops, stemming from the catastrophic “legacy” of the 2011 withdrawal, which created a vacuum exploited by ISIS during their lightning 2014 offensive.

It took a three-year military onslaught, heavily supported by a US-led coalition at the invitation of Iraq, to wrest back all the urban centers the extremists seized.

“The last thing that the US would want would be to quit Iraq and find themselves a few years later facing... a return by ISIS,” according to one diplomatic source.

ISIS today operates from mountainous and desert regions, activating cells for attacks including Monday’s suicide bombing of a market in Baghdad’s Sadr City that officially killed 30. The prime minister announced on Saturday that the cell behind that attack had been arrested.

Election calculations
Beyond the ever-present security issues, Kadhimi, in power for little over a year, is grappling with a cocktail of other crises three months ahead of a general election that threatens his tenure.

Severe electricity shortages, endemic corruption, a spate of murders of activists blamed on pro-Iran armed groups, the coronavirus pandemic and diminished oil revenues have all stoked renewed instability.

Kadhimi will therefore also seek to secure a softening of secondary US sanctions relating to Iran when in Washington, to help Iraq honor crucial transactions with its neighbor and tackle the power crisis, according to Jiyad.

Shortages during the stifling summer heat have been exacerbated by Iran suspending crucial gas deliveries in recent weeks, due to payment arrears of $6 billion that Baghdad is unable to settle, in part because of US sanctions on Tehran.

“The prime minister’s visit (to Washington) is inextricably tied with his electoral campaign,” according to Mardini.

“It’s part of an effort to shore up international and regional support” to help him revive a faltering domestic political base, he added.



Palestinians Wary as US-backed Aid Group Begins Operations in Gaza

Trucks carrying aid are seen at the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, on its Israeli side, May 27, 2025. REUTERS/Shafiek Tassiem
Trucks carrying aid are seen at the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, on its Israeli side, May 27, 2025. REUTERS/Shafiek Tassiem
TT
20

Palestinians Wary as US-backed Aid Group Begins Operations in Gaza

Trucks carrying aid are seen at the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, on its Israeli side, May 27, 2025. REUTERS/Shafiek Tassiem
Trucks carrying aid are seen at the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, on its Israeli side, May 27, 2025. REUTERS/Shafiek Tassiem

Palestinians voiced wariness on Tuesday toward a US-backed foundation set to bring aid to Gaza amid signs of famine, with Hamas warnings about biometric screening procedures keeping many away from distribution points.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it began operations on Monday, but there was little indication of Palestinians turning up at distribution centers in southern Gaza even after almost three months of Israel blockading the enclave.

Palestinians said there was no known visits to new sites of distribution on Monday, but on Tuesday dozens headed to one of them established in Rafah to get some aid despite the warnings, at least three witnesses told Reuters.

Others stayed away.

"As much as I want to go because I am hungry and my children are hungry, I am afraid," said Abu Ahmed, 55, a father of seven. "I am so scared because they said the company belongs to Israel and is a mercenary, and also because the resistance (Hamas) said not to go," he said in a message on the chat app WhatsApp.

Israel says the Switzerland-based GHF is a US-backed initiative and that its forces will not be involved in the distribution points where food will be handed out.

But its endorsement of the plan, which resembles Israeli schemes floated previously, and its closeness with the US has led many to question the neutrality of the foundation, including its own former chief, who resigned unexpectedly on Sunday.

The United Nations and other international aid groups have boycotted the foundation, which they say undermines the principle that humanitarian aid should be distributed independently of the parties to a conflict, based on need.

"Humanitarian assistance must not be politicized or militarized," said Christian Cardon, chief spokesperson of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Israel, at war with Gaza's dominant Hamas militant group since October 2023, imposed the blockade in early March accusing Hamas of stealing supplies and using them to entrench its position. Hamas has denied such accusations.

Israeli officials said one of the advantages of the new aid system is the opportunity to screen recipients to exclude anyone found to be connected with Hamas.

Humanitarian groups briefed on the foundation's plans say anyone accessing aid will have to submit to facial recognition technology that many Palestinians fear will end up in Israeli hands to be used to track and potentially target them.

Details of exactly how the system will operate have not been made public.

Israel makes extensive use of facial recognition and other forms of biometric identification in the occupied West Bank and has been reported by Israeli and international media to be using such techniques in Gaza as well.

BEGGING FOR BREAD

Hamas, which has in recent months faced protests by many Palestinians who want the devastating war to end, has also warned residents against accessing GHF sites, saying Israel was using the company to collect intelligence information.

"Do not go to Rafah ...Do not fall into the trap...Do not risk your lives. Your homes are your fortress. Staying in your neighbourhoods is survival, and awareness is your protection," a statement published by the Hamas-linked Home Front said.

"These schemes will be broken by the steadfastness of a people who do not know defeat," it added.

The launch of the new system came days after Israel eased its blockade, allowing a trickle of aid trucks from international agencies into Gaza last week, including World Food Program vehicles bringing flour to local bakeries.

But the amount of aid that has entered the densely populated coastal enclave has been only a small fraction of the 500-600 trucks that UN agencies estimate are needed every day.

"Before the war, my fridge used to be full of meat, chicken, dairy, soft drinks, everything, and now I am begging for a loaf of bread," Abu Ahmed told Reuters via a chat app.

As a small aid flow has resumed, Israeli forces - now in control of large parts of Gaza - have kept up attacks on various targets around the enclave, killing 3,901 Palestinians since a two-month-old ceasefire collapsed in mid-March, according to the Gaza health ministry.

In all, more than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's air and ground war, launched following a cross-border Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.