BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – Iraq and the United States have resumed a new round of dialogue to discuss ending the U.S.-led military occupation of Iraq, the Iraqi government said.
Iraqi military spokesman Yahya Rasool said in a statement that the Higher Military Commission (HMC) resumed meetings to assess the military situation.
The United States invaded Iraq in 2003 based on false claims about Baghdad possessing weapons of mass destruction, leaving a trail of destruction, death, and chaos in the Arab country.
The U.S. and its allies re-launched a military campaign in 2014 to supposedly fight off Daesh. The group had emerged in Iraq and neighboring Syria earlier as Washington was running out of excuses to extend its meddling in the West Asia region or enlarge it in scale.
The U.S. military claimed to be ending its combat mission in Iraq in 2021, but said it would retain some 2,500 troops in the country as alleged advisors, although, Baghdad and its allies had decisively defeated terrorists in late 2017.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Rasool said the resumed meetings are aimed at setting up a “timeline” for a “progressive pullout” of coalition forces from Iraq.
“As long as nothing disrupts the serenity of these talks, the meetings will take place on a regular basis in order to achieve the commission’s works as soon as possible,” the military official.
The first round of talks opened on January 27, but was suspended after a drone strike killed three U.S. forces at a base in Jordan. Washington has been using the incident as an excuse to stage a raft of deadly attacks across Iraq and Syria.
On Saturday, a former Iraqi prime minister urged Baghdad to act more decisively towards ending the United States’ so-called mission.
Speaking to Iran’s Arabic-language Al-Alam television network, Adel Abdul-Mahdi said, “The Iraqi government should adopt a clear and simple position and announce to America the end of its mission on a certain date.”
“American forces came to Iraq in line with a decision made by the Iraqi government, and now they should leave as per the Iraqi government’s notification,” he noted.