Newsweek: Armed factions want to repeat the Taliban's experience of expelling US forces from Iraq

[size=52]Newsweek: Armed factions want to repeat the Taliban's experience of expelling US forces from Iraq[/size]

[size=45]Translation/ Hamed Ahmed[/size]
[size=45]At a time when Iraqi armed factions pledged that the end of this year would be a deadline for US forces to leave the country, a leader of the armed factions told the American magazine Newsweek that the armed factions in Iraq managed to force the US forces to leave ten years before the Taliban succeeded in driving them out of Afghanistan. He pointed out that this success may be repeated soon in Iraq as well.[/size]
[size=45]"The Iraqi resistance preceded the Afghans in forcing the American forces to withdraw from Iraq in 2011, and today the resistance is stronger and more numerous," Nasser al-Shammari, a spokesman for Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, told Newsweek. Al-Shammari went on to say, "The resistance has the ability to confront and prolong, and it insists on expelling any foreign force from Iraqi lands. We have our own distinct experience and our cultural and intellectual heritage, and we respect all the experiences of free peoples.” Al-Nujaba Movement is considered one of the dozens of other organizations affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces, which was formed with a fatwa from the supreme authority to confront the rapid advance of ISIS towards the country. Some of those factions, which are considered close to Iran, have stood against each of the US forces after the invasion of the country in 2003, as well as against Sunni armed groups called Al-Qaeda, from which ISIS emerged after that after former US President Barack Obama completed the withdrawal of forces in December 2011.[/size]
[size=45]Armed factions had issued a statement last Friday, threatening to use force to expel the American forces if peaceful methods failed to withdraw the forces according to the specified date 12/31/2021. On the other hand, the US Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, met with his Iraqi counterpart, Jumaa Inad. Saadoun Al-Jubouri, on the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue Conference held in Bahrain, to discuss issues related to the partnership between the two countries. A Pentagon statement said Defense Secretary Austin "emphasised the strength and importance of the strategic partnership between the United States and Iraq, and also focused on the United States' continued commitment to the mission of eliminating and defeating ISIS." He assured his Iraqi counterpart Saadoun that the US forces are staying in Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government to support the Iraqi armed forces. The statement also stated that "the United States will abide by the commitments it made during the joint US-Iraqi strategic dialogue held in July 2021, which include that there will be no US combat forces remaining in the country by the end of this year." The two ministers discussed the next phase of the US military’s mission in Iraq, which will focus on providing advice and assistance to the Iraqi security forces and sharing security information with them, in the context of supporting the campaign to defeat ISIS. Newsweek indicates that it is not known what the nature of the next stage will be, and it is also not known whether any deliberate adjustments will be made that will be sufficient to appease the armed factions. The security situation in Iraq has become somewhat tense since the announcement of the results of the elections last month, which showed the victory of the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s movement, while it was unsatisfactory and disappointing the hopes of other blocs under which armed factions are included, which prompted them to protest near the Green Zone, in which two people were killed by gunfire. security forces. In a dramatic escalation of tensions, booby-trapped drones attacked the residence of Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi earlier this month, in an operation for which no party has claimed responsibility so far. Al-Kazemi survived an assassination attempt, and he faced the incident with almost universal condemnation, including condemnation from the United States, Iran and the armed factions as well. The situation is still unstable with regard to the relationship between Tehran and Washington. As the two parties are preparing to resume indirect negotiations next week through the parties to the 2015 nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which will be held in the Austrian capital Vienna, the seventh meeting of its kind since President Biden took office. The withdrawal of former President Donald Trump from the agreement played a role in destabilizing the Gulf region, as well as Iraq, where an attack by a US drone killed the commander of the Iranian Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, and the deputy commander of the crowd, Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, near Baghdad International Airport in January 2020, which prompted partisan blocs. Parliament to demand the issuance of a resolution demanding the government to pay for the expulsion of US and foreign forces from the country.[/size]
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