BAGHDAD: Iraq and the United States held a first round of talks on the future of American and other foreign troops in the country on Saturday, with Baghdad expecting discussions to lead to a timeline for reducing their presence.Roughly 2,500 US troops are still deployed in Iraq as part of the anti-Islamic State group international coalition formed in 2014, the year the jihadist group overran swathes of Iraq and neighbouring Syria.But since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, US-led coalition forces in Iraq and Syria have faced frequent attacks by Iran-aligned groups, leading to US retaliatory strikes and Iraqi complaints of American “aggression” against its territory.The volatile situation has pushed Iraq’s prime minister, whose government relies on the support of Iran-aligned parties, to call for the coalition to leave, although talks had been planned since an initial meeting in Washington in August.On Saturday, a “one-way drone attack” targeted the Ain al-Assad base, where coalition troops are stationed in Iraq’s western Anbar province, a US military official told AFP.An Iraqi security official confirmed the drone attack, with the US official saying it was not immediately clear whether it had led to any casualties or damage.Earlier, the office of Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani issued a photograph of him with top-ranking officials from both the Iraqi armed forces and the US-led coalition.Their joint commission “started its work today, in Baghdad, to review the mission of the Global Coalition against Daesh,” Sudani’s office said in a statement, using an Arabic acronym for IS.”Military experts will oversee ending the military mission of the Global Coalition against Daesh, a decade after its initiation and after its successful achievement of its mission in partnership with Iraqi security and military forces.”Sudani’s foreign affairs adviser, Farhad Alaaldin, told AFP that the talks “and whatever progress is made will determine the length of these negotiations.””Iraq is engaging the other countries in taking part in the international coalition for bilateral agreements that serve the best interests of Iraq and these countries,” Alaaldin said.
Source link
