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The last US combat troops withdrew from Iraq on 18 December 2011 (under Obama), but the US embassy and consulates continued to maintain a staff of more than 20,000 including military personnel within the Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq and US Marine Embassy Guards.
Obama announced the return of US forces in 2014, in the form of aerial support, in an effort to halt the advance of ISIL forces, render humanitarian aid to stranded refugees and stabilize the political situation.
In January 2020 (under Trump), after the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the Iraqi parliament voted for all foreign troops to leave the country. This would end its standing agreement with the United States to station 5,200 soldiers in Iraq.
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President Donald Trump threatened Iraq with debilitating sanctions, should the Middle Eastern country force US troops to leave.
The move provoked a swift response from Washington, as it expressed its disappointment with the decision.
"We strongly urge Iraqi leaders to reconsider the importance of the ongoing economic and security relationship between the two countries and the continued presence of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS," said a State Department spokesperson.
"We believe it is in the shared interests of the United States and Iraq to continue fighting ISIS together," and that the US is still "committed to a sovereign, stable, and prosperous Iraq."
Iraqi Parliament Votes to Expel US Troops – DW – 01/05/2020
"We have a very extraordinarily expensive air base that's there. It cost billions of dollars to build. We're not leaving unless they pay us back for it," he told reporters.
Speaking from the presidential plane, Mr Trump said that if Iraq asked US forces to depart on an unfriendly basis, "we will charge them sanctions like they've never seen before, ever. It'll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame."
Trump Threatens Iraq With Sanctions If US Troops Are Expelled - BBC News
President Trump, speaking at the White House, said that withdrawing the estimated 5,000 U.S. troops would be the “worst thing to happen to Iraq.”
Trump Administration Insists U.S. Troops Will Remain in Iraq - The Washington Post
President Joe Biden agreed on Monday to formally conclude the US combat mission in Iraq by the end of the year, another step toward winding down the two prolonged military engagements that began in the years following the September 11 terror attacks.
Biden told reporters in the Oval Office alongside Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi that the US mission in Iraq will shift.
Biden Announces End of Combat Mission in Iraq As He Shifts US Foreign Policy Focus | CNN Politics
Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 01 April 2024
