BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – A member of the political bureau of Iraq’s anti-terror Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq group, which is part of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) or Hashd al-Sha’abi, says Washington is trying to prolong the military presence of U.S.-led forces in Iraq under the excuse of an advisory role.
“The United States is seeking to continue its presence in Iraq under the pretext of what it calls a training and advisory role. Resistance fighters will continue their struggle as long as American occupation troops are present on the Iraqi soil,” Ahmed Abdel-Hussein said in an interview with Arabic-language al-Maalomah news agency on Thursday.
Abdul-Hussein said, “The [U.S. President Joe] Biden administration is looking to extend the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq,” adding that there are no categorical assurances from Washington that the forces will pull out of Iraq.
The PMU official pointed out that the United States is engaged in hidden agendas in order to keep a great bulk of its troops in Iraq.
Major General Tahsin al-Khafaji, spokesman of the Joint Operations Command, told the official Iraqi News Agency on Wednesday that U.S. combat forces have withdrawn from the country, and only foreign advisors are present.
“The mission of foreign forces in Iraq has shifted from combat to advisory role as most of the existing combat forces have left before the specified deadline,” he added.
Last week, Qassim al-Araji, Iraq’s national security adviser, said that a final round of technical talks to formally end the U.S.-led combat mission, which was purportedly formed to fight the Daesh terrorist group, had concluded.
However, chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that the number of U.S. troops in Iraq won’t change.
There are about 2,500 U.S. troops and 1,000 coalition troops currently based in Iraq. It is unclear how many will remain in the next phase of deployment in Iraq.
Anti-U.S. sentiment has been growing in Iraq. Iraqi lawmakers have approved a bill that requires the government to end the presence of all foreign military forces led by the U.S.