Top US general says 2,500 troops will remain in Iraq

The top US commander for the Middle East said on Thursday that the United States will keep the current 2,500 troops in Iraq for the foreseeable future, and warned that he expects increased attacks on American and Iraqi personnel by Iranian-backed militias that serve US forces. determined to achieve. Outside.

Marine General Frank McKenzie said in an interview with the Associated Press at the Pentagon that despite the US military’s change to non-combat role in Iraq, they would still provide air support and other military aid for Iraq’s fight against Islamic State. .

Noting that the Iranian-backed militias wanted to drive all Western forces out of Iraq, he said the ongoing escalation in violence could continue until December.

“They really want all US forces to go, and not all US forces are going to leave,” he said, adding that as a result, “this could provoke a reaction because we meet later at the end of the month.”

Earlier on Thursday, the Iraqi government announced the conclusion of talks on ending US combat missions against IS. The US military has been largely an advisory role for some time, so little has changed in the announced transition. The announcement reflects a July decision by the Biden administration to end the US combat mission in Iraq by December 31.

“We’ve come down from bases we didn’t need, we’ve made it hard to get to. But Iraqis still want us to be there. They still want presence, they still want engagement.” McKenzie said. “So long as they want it, and we can mutually agree that’s the case — we’re going to be there.”

He said he believed Islamic State terrorists would continue to be a threat in Iraq and that the group would “continue to reinvent itself, perhaps under a different name.” He said the key would be to ensure that IS is no longer able to keep pace with other elements around the world and is becoming increasingly strong and dangerous.

The US invaded Iraq in 2003, and at the climax the country had more than 170,000 soldiers battling insurgents and later working to train and advise Iraqi forces. All US forces were withdrawn in late 2011, but just three years later, US troops returned to Iraq to help defeat the Islamic State group, which gained control of a large part of the country. Crossed the border with Syria.

The US presence in Iraq has long been a flash point for Tehran, but tensions escalated after a US drone strike near Baghdad airport in January 2020, which killed a top Iranian general. In retaliation, Iran launched a barrage of missiles at the al-Assad airbase, where US troops were stationed. More than 100 service members suffered traumatic brain injuries in the blasts.

Most recently, an Iranian proxy is believed to be responsible for an assassination attempt last month on Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. And officials have said they believe Iran was behind October’s drone attack on a military post in southern Syria where US troops are located. No American personnel were killed or injured in the attack.

“I think the attack to kill the prime minister is a very important event,” McKenzie said. “I think it’s a sign of the frustration they’re facing right now.”

McKenzie, who has led US Central Command for nearly three years and has traveled extensively across the region, painted a picture that depicts the recent turmoil in Afghanistan, where US troops moved in late August. were go.

On Afghanistan, McKenzie said the al-Qaeda extremist group has grown slightly since US forces left and ruling Taliban leaders are divided about their 2020 pledge to sever ties with the group. He said the departure of US military and intelligence assets from the country made it “very difficult, if not impossible” to ensure that neither al-Qaeda nor the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan ally could pose a threat to the United States. Is.

Like the Taliban’s long campaign to drive Americans out of Afghanistan, Iran and its representatives are fighting to get America out of Iraq and the wider Middle East.

“Iran still sticks to the stance of ousting us,” he said. “And they see the major battlefield for this as being in Iraq. And I believe they are under the idea that they can increase friction in Iraq where we will go.

“Iran believes the campaign will not affect nuclear talks that have been stalled for a long time but are now resuming,” he said. But, he added, “I think it’s a dangerous situation for the Iranians, because I think they won’t be able to separate those two things.”

McKenzie said that as NATO begins to expand its presence in Iraq as planned, the US will refine its forces there. And the total presence of the US military will depend on future agreements with Iraq’s government.

McKenzie said US troops in Syria, which currently number about 900, would continue to advise and assist Syrian rebel forces in the fight against IS. He said it was not clear how long it would take, but he added, “I think we are much closer than we were a few years ago. I still think we have a way to go.”

Broadly speaking, McKenzie noted that the US military presence in the Middle East has dropped significantly since last year, when it reached 80,000 amid tensions with Iran. The US has identified China and Russia as top national security threats, labeled China as America’s “pacing challenge” and focused on focusing more effort and assets in the Pacific.

In a recent review of the situation in US forces around the world, the Pentagon said little about withdrawing or moving troops to the Middle East. McKenzie and other top military leaders have long worried that the US military is concentrated in too few places in the Middle East and must spread further to increase security.

“We think it is important to work with our allies in the region to present a more complex targeting problem to Iran,” he said, adding that the US would be able to move troops to other bases to achieve that goal. Will see more opportunities.

McKenzie said he is particularly concerned with Iran’s development of ballistic and cruise missiles as well as armed drones.

“And so those things are very important to me as they continue to develop them,” he said. “And they show no signs of deteriorating their research in this area, and their fielding of new and increasingly lethal and capable weapons.”

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