US President Donald Trump and Iraq's Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi reportedly discussed troop reduction during the latter's visit to Washington last week, but made no official announcements indicating that an agreement on the issue had been reached.
The Pentagon will be reducing its military personnel deployed in Iraq by nearly 1/3 in the coming months, down to around 3,500 servicemen, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous officials. The process will reportedly take between two and three months.
Neither the Pentagon nor the Iraqi authorities have commented on the report which claimed that the number of American troops in Iraq will return to the level prior to the international campaign against Daesh – a terrorist organisation banned in Russia.
Officials from both countries, cited by the newspaper, claim that a total withdrawal of the US forces has been ruled out due to the still-fresh memory of Daesh abusing the “security vacuum” that was created after the 2011 pull-out. Some anonymous officials told the WSJ that the withdrawal is linked to the upcoming November presidential election in the US. According to the newspaper's sources, Trump is “anxious” to pull troops out from Iraq in order to make a point about him fulfilling his 2016 electoral pledge to bring American soldiers home.
Reported Talks in Washington on Troop Withdrawal
Despite reports that the talks in Washington between…
