Biden announces the end of the combat mission in Iraq while shifting the focus of US foreign policy

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Washington CNN –

President Joe Biden will on Monday formally agree to conclude the US combat mission in Iraq by the end of the year, another step toward ending the two protracted military engagements that began in the years following the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Biden is expected to strike the deal during Oval Office talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, his first meeting with the politically embattled leader since taking office.

Contrary to Biden’s decision to withdraw all US forces from Afghanistan, the end of the combat mission comes at the request of Iraq. The country is caught in a balance between the country’s anti-American factions, Iranian-backed militias, and the stability of the US military.

Nor will it lead to the withdrawal of US forces from the country, as happened in Afghanistan. There are currently 2,500 US troops in Iraq, and officials declined to say how that number had changed after Monday’s announcement. The US and Iraq are expected to announce that the US mission will shift entirely to an advisory role by the end of the year – which means some changes to current levels can only come on paper.

However, the two decisions are the best illustrations of Biden’s efforts to shift US foreign policy away from decisions made nearly two decades ago. Instead, he wants to focus on threats from China, where a top US diplomat traveled this week for a tense set of meetings.

US forces and their coalition allies first invaded Iraq in 2003 on the grounds that the government led by Saddam Hussein had developed weapons of mass destruction. Weapons were not found. Biden voted to authorize the use of force against Iraq as a senator, and even joined then-President George W. Bush in the East Room of the White House when he signed the resolution. He later criticized the way the Bush administration handled the war.

Then-President Barack Obama announced the withdrawal of troops from the country in 2011. But they returned in 2014 to help fight Islamic State terrorists. Biden was largely responsible for the Iraq portfolio as Vice President, traveling the country at multiple points and engaging its various political factions.

His son Beau served as a reserve soldier in the country before he died of brain cancer in 2015. Biden said he suspected exposure to toxins from burning military waste led to his son’s condition.

Prior to the first meeting between the two leaders, the governments of the two countries held technical talks on Thursday and Friday in the framework of the strategic dialogue between the two countries. As part of Monday’s meeting, Biden will confirm continued diplomatic and humanitarian support for Iraq, including a plan to supply the country with 500,000 doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.

The shift away from the combat mission is not a major adjustment to the US presence in the region, which is already focusing much of its efforts on advising and assisting the Iraqi military.

In recent months, US forces in Iraq have been targeted by Iranian drone strikes, triggering back-and-forth retaliatory action. Tensions escalated dramatically when then-President Donald Trump ordered a strike to kill Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s supreme leader, during a visit to Baghdad airport.

While it does not represent a significant change in troop levels, the symbolic shift away from Iraq remains a notable change for the president. Defending his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, Biden has repeatedly said that it is time to focus on threats from today rather than 20 years ago.

As in Afghanistan, the results of the US presence in Iraq for 18 years are mixed.

“No one will declare mission accomplished,” a senior administration official said, referring to the massive banner raised behind Bush on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln as he announced combat operations in Iraq more than three months after American forces entered the war. . country.

“The goal is the permanent defeat of ISIS,” the official said. “We know you have to keep pressure on these networks as they seek to reconfigure, but the role of US and coalition forces can fall back a lot, you know, in the background where we train and advise and share intelligence and help with logistics.”

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