ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s President Abdul Latif Rashid and Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Wednesday met in Baghdad, touching on several issues, including the government’s plan to end the presence of US-led coalition forces in the country. Both leaders “addressed the presence of the international coalition in Iraq, reviewing the outcomes of the recent discussions with them. There was emphasis on supporting the government's initiatives to conclude the coalition's presence and transition to bilateral relations with its member states,” read a statement from Sudani’s office. The Iraqi government has repeatedly said it wants to end the presence of foreign military forces in the country after the US, to Baghdad’s ire, conducted several retaliatory strikes targeting state-linked armed groups that are backed by Iran. The global coalition against the Islamic State was formed in 2014 after the group took control of swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territories. ISIS was territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 but it remains a threat in the country. The US-Iraq Higher Military Commission (HMC) on Sunday met in Baghdad to “assess the military situation, the level of danger, the operational environment, and the capabilities of the Iraqi armed forces,” Yehia Rasool, military spokesperson for Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani said in a statement on X. With that assessment, a timetable will be formulated for a “well-studied and gradual reduction” of coalition forces leading to the conclusion of the coalition’s mission in Iraq and “transitioning to a bilateral relationship,” he said. “U.S. forces are in Iraq at the invitation of the Government of Iraq. We remain in close consultation with the Iraqi government when it comes to U.S. force presence in Iraq, in particular the safety and security of those forces. No timelines have been set in regards to U.S. force levels,” Major Pete Nguyen, US Department of Defense spokesperson, told reporters on Tuesday.
