After 18 Years, President Joe Biden Withdraws All US Troops From Iraq Late 2021

Illustration of the United States military in Iraq. (Wikimedia Commons/US Navy/Photographer's Mate 1st Class Alan D. Monyelle)

JAKARTA - US President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi signed an agreement formally ending US combat missions in Iraq at the end of this year, after more than 18 years of the US military's war in the country.

Coupled with Biden's withdrawal from the last American force in Afghanistan in late August, the Democratic President is completing US combat missions in the two wars that President George W. Bush started under his tutelage.

President Biden and Kadhimi met in the Oval Office, White House, Washington DC, United States for their first face-to-face talks, as part of the strategic dialogue between the United States and Iraq.

"Our role in Iraq remains, to continue to train, assist, help deal with ISIS as it emerges, but we will end the combat mission at the end of this year," Biden told reporters when he and Kadhimi met.

There are currently 2,500 US troops in Iraq focused on fighting the remnants of ISIS. The US role in Iraq will shift entirely to Iraqi military training and advisers for self-defense.

This shift is not expected to have a major impact, as the United States has moved toward focusing on training Iraqi troops.

A US-led coalition invaded Iraq in March 2003 based on allegations that the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein at the time possessed weapons of mass destruction. Saddam was ousted from power, but such weapons were never found.

In recent years, the US mission has been dominated by helping defeat ISIS militants in Iraq and Syria.

"No one will declare the mission accomplished. The goal is the eternal defeat of ISIS," a senior government official told reporters ahead of Kadhimi's visit.

The reference is reminiscent of the large "Mission Accomplished" banner on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, where President Bush gave a speech declaring major combat operations in Iraq on May 1, 2003.

“If you look at where we are, where we have Apache helicopters in combat, when we have US special forces conducting regular operations, that is a significant evolution. So at the end of the year we think we'll be in a good place to actually officially move into an advisory and capacity building role," the official said.

US diplomats and troops in Iraq and Syria were targeted in three rocket and drone attacks earlier this month. Analysts believe the attack was part of a campaign by Iran-backed militias.

Senior administration officials would not say how many US troops would remain in Iraq for advice and training.

Meanwhile, Kadhimi is seen as friendly with the United States and has tried to control the power of militias allied with Iran. However, his government condemned the US airstrikes against Iran-aligned fighters along the Iraq-Syria border in late June, calling them a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.

The US-Iraq statement is expected to detail a number of non-military agreements on health, energy and other matters. In addition, the US also provided a number of aid to Iraq.

The United States plans to provide Iraq with 500,000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine under the global COVAX vaccine sharing program. President Biden said the dose would arrive in a few weeks.

In addition, the United States will also provide 5.2 million US dollars to help fund the UN mission to monitor the October elections in Iraq. "We are looking forward to seeing an election in October," said President Joe Biden.