US military starts drawing down its mission in Iraq countering the Islamic State group

BAGHDAD (AP) – The U.S. military has begun drawing down its mission in Iraq under an agreement signed with the Iraqi government last year, eventually reducing the number of American troops in the country focused on countering the Islamic State group by about 20%, officials said.

Washington and Baghdad agreed last year under the Biden administration to wind down the military mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition fighting IS by this September, with U.S. forces departing some bases where troops have been stationed during a two-decade-long military presence in the country.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement late Tuesday that the U.S. “will reduce its military mission in Iraq,” reflecting “our combined success in fighting ISIS.”

A senior defense official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity to discuss troop movements, said the military has begun to shift the burden for combating the Islamic State group in Iraq from U.S. and coalition forces to Iraqi troops who have been trained by the American military for about a decade.

The start of the drawdown in Iraq comes just months after the Trump administration also decided to withdraw about 600 troops from Syria, leaving fewer than 1,000 to work with Kurdish allies to counter the Islamic State there. The militant group still carries out deadly attacks in both countries, and worries remain about IS following upheaval in Syria and wider turmoil in the Middle East.

U.S. troops will be consolidated and largely moved to a base in Irbil, a city in the semiautonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, and fewer than 2,000 were expected to remain in Iraq once negotiations conclude, the official said. That would be a reduction from just over 2,500 service members there now, the official said.

That figure is just a small fraction of the troop levels historically in Iraq: Around 20,000 troops were deployed there a decade ago.

A senior Iraqi security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said the U.S. withdrawal began weeks ago from the other two areas where troops have been stationed: Baghdad and Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq. He said “a very small number of advisers” remain at the joint command.

Parnell’s statement said Washington will maintain close coordination with Baghdad and coalition partners to ensure a “responsible transition.”

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told The Associated Press in an interview in July that the U.S. and Iraq will meet by the end of the year to “arrange the bilateral security relationship.”

The senior defense official that spoke with reporters said Iraqi forces are now capable of handling the IS threat that still exists in the country.

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Toropin reported from Washington.