The final agreement between Iraq and the United States over the withdrawal of the International Coalition will be implemented according to a timetable agreed between the two parties, a senior Iraqi official told Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday.
He made his remarks hours after a Pentagon official said Washington has no announcement to make over the pullout.
Another Iraqi official said another meeting will be held between Iraq and the US to approve the withdrawal plan.
Eight Iraqi and American officials confirmed on Friday that their countries have reached an agreement over the troop withdrawal.
The plan, which has been broadly agreed but requires a final go-ahead from both capitals and an announcement date, would see hundreds of troops leave by September 2025, with the remainder departing by the end of 2026, the sources said according to Reuters.
The US and Iraq are also seeking to establish a new advisory relationship that could see some US troops remain in Iraq after the drawdown.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Iraqi official stressed that the government was determined to end the coalition mission and elevate ties to the bilateral level between member countries of the alliance.
An Iraqi government source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Friday’s announcement was not a new agreement, rather it is part of a deal that had reached during the meetings of the Higher Iraqi-American military Commission meetings.
The agreement follows more than six months of talks between Baghdad and Washington, initiated by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in January amid attacks by Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups on US forces stationed at Iraqi bases.
The US has approximately 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in neighboring Syria as part of the coalition formed in 2014 to combat ISIS as it rampaged through the two countries.
Aide to al-Sudani, Hussein Allawi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the talks the PM held during his summit with US President Joe Biden tackled the outcomes of the meetings of the military commission to end the troop deployment.
Iraq and the US will hold a meeting to confirm the timetable for the withdrawal and transform relations to partnership and cooperation after ten years of joint work against ISIS.
