Iraq and the United States will negotiate the withdrawal of troops from the country in June

June seems to be the date chosen by Washington and Baghdad to sit down at a negotiating table and talk about the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. This was announced by the spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces, General Abdul Karim Khalaf, in the Iraqi daily Al-Sabah.

This withdrawal is part of the decision taken by the Iraqi Parliament to proceed with the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraqi territory. This measure was taken a few days after the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, an Iranian general and a key man in the Islamic Republic, and of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an Iraqi military commander who led the Iraqi paramilitary alliance People's Mobilization Forces (PMF).

On this decision, General Khalaf has pointed out that the American Ambassador in Baghdad, Douglas A. Silliman, showed his good will in contributing to this withdrawal, and so he made it known to the interim Prime Minister, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, in which they also discussed the new relations that will be established between the two countries once the withdrawal is over. "The United States has significantly reduced its military forces in Iraq, as a gesture of goodwill, and there are positive signs of understanding on the American side," the General said.

However, General Khalaf noted that "security relations between Iraq and the United States will maintain the exchange of experience and training, even if the withdrawal is implemented. "The negotiations will address all types of relations between the two countries in terms of economy, culture, politics and security by establishing a Strategic Framework Agreement.

According to military sources, an estimated 5,200 U.S. troops remain at military bases in the north and west of the country, including the base at Ain al-Asad in Anbar province, near Syria. In this province, the American troops were planning to build a new military base in the area of Umm Samikh and to install Patriot model air defence systems there.

On February 11, U.S. forces began withdrawing from 15 military bases. The newspaper Al-Sabah assures that the final decision of the withdrawal will not be made until a government is formed in Iraq, since the parliament is not authorized to make decisions on the withdrawal of American troops, since it is the absolute competence of the government.

Since the resignation of Mahdi, who has continued as interim president, at the end of November last year, the country has not been able to find a political stability that can solve the different open fronts that the country has. In mid-April, Iraqi President Barham Saleh entrusted the task of forming a government to the former head of the intelligence services, Mustafa al-Kazemi.

A few weeks ago, Karim Al-Muhamadawi, an Iraqi parliamentarian and member of the Parliament's Security and Defence Committee, condemned the fact that the policy pursued by Washington did not fit in with the withdrawal of troops, but that it was trying to increase its offensive capacity and its attacks against pro-Iranian Iraqi militias, such as the PMF. "The withdrawal of US troops from several military bases is not in line with the Iraqi parliamentary resolution urging the government in Baghdad to expel foreign forces from the country. Rather, it is part of the plans to redeploy US troops within Iraq," the parliamentarian said.

Along these lines, on Sunday, an Iraqi security source warned about a sudden increase in the number of US troops deployed at the Ain al-Asad airbase, according to the Arab news agency al-Maalomah. 

According to the latest movements, it seems likely that this year most of the US military forces will withdraw, as well as the French, British and Australian forces that at the beginning of the year also requested the withdrawal of their troops. Now it remains to be seen what kind of relationship will be established between Washington and Baghdad.

Barack Obama withdrew troops from Iraq in 2011, unable to secure a new agreement with the Iraqi government to keep them there any longer. Iraq was forced to invite the US military back to fight Daesh, who in the summer of 2014 was threatening genocide against the Yazidis and beheading the hostages, including Americans.

In 2016, and already with Trump in the White House, he accelerated the military campaign against Daesh and won the fall of the Iraqi capital from the Islamic state in 2017. In 2019, the American president declared Daesh's territorial defeat and that same year, following a US special operations raid, the leader of the terrorist group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed.

The U.S. work in Iraq seemed to be over, but Trump did not promise to withdraw from Iraq, although he has done so with his troops in Syria. The decision to stay in the country may have several intentions, such as putting pressure on an Iranian ally on its own territory. The assassination of General Soleimani on Iraqi soil showed how effective the U.S. presence is in Iraq. Trump's campaign against Iran has been increasingly intense with sanctions against the regime of Ayatollah Khomeini. 

Now it remains to be seen under what conditions and how the de-escalation of American troops in Iraq is carried out.