It was only a symbolic shift — but a pretty big symbol for all that: Just months after the U.S. ended the longest war in its history in Afghanistan, the Pentagon confirmed Thursday the U.S. combat mission in Iraq was officially shutting down as well.
But though U.S. forces in Iraq wrapped up their combat mission targeting Islamic fighters in the region, Defense Department officials on Thursday said there is still work to be done there before the troops can come home.
Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, the international alliance charged with defeating the Islamic State, confirmed that it has completed its transition to a non-combat “advise and assist” assignment.
Maj. Gen. John W. Brennan Jr., commander of Operation Inherent Resolve, praised the “many brave men and women” who helped turn the tide of battle against the jihadist group, and said U.S. forces would remain as trainers in the country “at the invitation of the Republic of Iraq.”
“We are officially announcing the end of the coalition forces’ combat mission,” tweeted Qassim al-Araji, Iraq’s national security adviser, after a low-key ceremony in Baghdad Thursday.
The presence of American and allied forces has long posed a delicate problem for Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s government, which relies on Western allies for security but faces strong pressure from Shiite militias at home and from Iran against the foreign presence in the country. The pressure only increased when a U.S. military strike in early 2020 near Baghdad killed Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani and a top Iraqi militia leader.
One militia group now part of Iraqi government security forces said Thursday it had “no trust in any promise” made by the United States, The New York Times reported Thursday.
“If U.S. forces do not withdraw at the end of the year, it can be defined only as an occupation,” Harakat Hezbollah Al-Nujaba said in a statement. “Targeting the U.S. occupation in Iraq is a great honor, and we support the factions that target it.”
A U.S.-led allied force invaded Iraq in March 2003, vowing to destroy the country’s weapons of mass destruction and end Saddam Hussein’s dictatorial rule. The Obama administration withdrew forces in 2011 but returned in 2014 when the threat from Islamic State threatened to engulf the region.
The announcement of the mission change came at the conclusion of technical talks between the U.S. and Iraqi governments. According to the agreement, there would be no U.S. forces with a combat role inside Iraq by the end of the year. The Pentagon already also recently announced the move of a logistics headquarters to Kuwait from a base in Iraq’s western al-Anbar province.
Navy Commander Jessica L. McNulty, a Defense Department spokeswoman, said the transition came ahead of schedule “because of tremendous progress achieved by the Iraqi security forces, including the peshmerga, in developing the capability and capacity to lead the fight against ISIS.”
The peshmerga are the military forces of the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq.
U.S. officials stressed that the number of American troops in Iraq won’t change significantly, even with the new mission. About 2,500 U.S. military personnel there will now focus exclusively on training and advising the Iraqi soldiers.
“There is no significant posture change in Iraq right now. The numbers are still where they were,” said chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. “This is a change in mission, not necessarily a change in physical posture.”
He acknowledged that the number of U.S. troops in Iraq could be adjusted depending on the situation on the ground.
“We have been making this transition for quite some time,” Mr. Kirby said. “It’s not like, you know, today they snapped a chalk line and all of a sudden there’s a massive change in the daily operations of our men and women over there.”
As the Islamic State threat receded, some local politicians and other leaders began speaking out about the continued presence of U.S. troops on Iraqi soil. The troops became a target of Iranian missiles in the days after Gen. Soleimani was killed in January 2020, and Iraq’s parliament has considered measures ordering the American troops to leave.
But Mr. Kirby said this week’s change was a natural evolution of the U.S. mission in Iraq and in keeping with Washington’s commitments to the Iraqi government, Mr. Kirby said.
“They have been working themselves out of offensive combat operations against ISIS for quite some time,” he said. “We look forward to that partnership now going forward.”
Gen. Brennan said the U.S. and Iraq have “come a long way” since the international coalition against ISIS deployed. The jihadist group at the time controlled a vast swath of territory for its “caliphate” straddling the border between Iraq and Syria.
Islamic State “is down but not out,” he said. “We will advise and assist our partner forces to enable the protection of the people of Iraq.”
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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