Al-Sudani's government in a difficult situation... No US withdrawal and negotiations sought to "calm

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[size=52]Al-Sudani's government in a difficult situation... No US withdrawal and negotiations sought to "calm the factions"[/size]

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2024-09-08
Baghdad:
A new embarrassment has befallen the government, through the explicit announcement by the US Department of Defense “the Pentagon” that there is no intention of a military withdrawal from Iraq, and this is what a government advisor acknowledged, but he confirmed that Baghdad is determined to resolve this issue, while observers indicated that the previous rounds of negotiations and announcements were aimed at “calming” the armed factions “only.”[/size]
[size=45]The political advisor to the Prime Minister, Subhan Al-Mulla Jiyad, said during an interview, “Iraq has not yet reached any agreement with the United States of America to set a date for announcing the withdrawal of its forces, but Iraq is determined to resolve this issue soon.”[/size]
[size=45]Mulla Jiyad added, “Iraq’s position during its negotiations with the United States of America is clear, calling for an end to the missions of the international coalition and the end of the foreign presence, and Iraq is not concerned with the media statements of some American officials.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "During the next phase, there will be rounds of dialogue between Iraq and the United States of America for the purpose of resolving the issue of foreign presence."[/size]
[size=45]A Pentagon official announced on Friday evening that the United States is aware of reports in the media about possible plans to withdraw American forces from Iraq, but the United States “is not yet ready to announce any specific dates.”[/size]
[size=45]The US official's statement came after Reuters published a report about the Iraqi government and the international coalition led by Washington against ISIS reaching an understanding regarding a plan to end its operations, and that the plan includes the withdrawal of hundreds of international coalition forces from Iraq by September 2025, while the rest will withdraw in 2026.[/size]
[size=45]It is noteworthy that the armed factions, since mid-October 2023, began targeting American bases in Iraq, coinciding with the Gaza war, as the factions announced that their targeting of American forces was in response to American support for Israel.[/size]
[size=45]The previous escalation between the armed factions and the American forces witnessed military responses from Washington, the most recent of which was the bombing of the city of Al-Qaim, adjacent to the Syrian border. The US Central Command confirmed at the time that its forces launched air strikes in Iraq and Syria targeting sites of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and its affiliated militia groups. The command said that the US military forces struck more than 85 targets with many aircraft, including long-range bombers, launched from the United States.[/size]
[size=45]For his part, political and security analyst Ahmed Al-Sharifi explained, during an interview with “Al-Alam Al-Jadeed”, that “the American position since the beginning of the negotiations between Baghdad and Washington was to reject withdrawal and to emphasize the military presence in Iraq.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Sharifi confirms that “the joint statements between Iraq and the United States of America were completely devoid of any word indicating military withdrawal, and this confirms that there is no withdrawal, in exchange for the renewal of the American declaration to remain, while the Iraqi government remains silent.”[/size]
[size=45]He believes that “the goal of announcing the dialogue between Baghdad and Washington is to calm some of the Iraqi armed factions outside the control of the current government, which wanted this negotiation to renew the calm period between the factions and the Americans.”[/size]
[size=45]Last August, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the postponement of the date for announcing the end of the mission of the international coalition led by the United States due to “developments” that it did not specify. However, the Prime Minister’s advisor, Diaa al-Nasiri, confirmed that the recent targeting of the Ain al-Assad base and the previous targeting of the Popular Mobilization Forces factions in Jurf al-Sakhar were what led to the postponement of the announcement of the end of the mission of the coalition forces, stressing that negotiations with the coalition to end its mission were postponed to assess the situation and until the parties that targeted the Ain al-Assad base are known.[/size]
[size=45]It is worth noting that as a result of the escalation between the armed factions and the American forces, it was announced months ago that negotiations between the Iraqi and American committees had begun to discuss the withdrawal of American forces, and these committees are still working without announcing the final results so far.[/size]
[size=45]In addition, political researcher Ahmed Al-Yasiri explained, during an interview with “Al-Alam Al-Jadeed”, that “everyone knows that there is no intention of any American withdrawal, and the current negotiations are only to change the title of the presence, especially since we are approaching the American presidential elections.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Yasiri points out that “the Iraqi government, as well as the political forces supporting it, are well aware that there will be no American withdrawal, especially since there are Iraqi parties that fear any American withdrawal from Iraq.”[/size]
[size=45]He points out that “the American withdrawal from Iraq will certainly have different repercussions, and therefore all parties do not want to withdraw, but are trying to delay this file, and the American position is clear and true that there is no withdrawal soon or even far away, and this will certainly weaken the position of Al-Sudani’s government.”[/size]
[size=45]It is noteworthy that the visit of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to Washington and his meeting with US President Joe Biden, last April, did not include discussing the file of armed factions or the targeting of US bases in Iraq.[/size]
[size=45]It is noteworthy that the American responses to the targeting of armed factions also included assassinations of leaders of those factions in the center of the capital, Baghdad, using guided and accurate missiles.[/size]
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