ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - France will continue supporting Iraqi and Kurdish troops in fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) even if US troops withdraw from Iraq, a French politician has told Rudaw, saying the fight against the terror group is ongoing.
“The war against terrorism, the war against ISIS, is not finished,” Jean-Jacques Bridey, head of the French parliament’s France-Iraq Friendship Committee and member of the Committee on Defence and the Armed Forces said on Saturday. “We must continue and pursue the fight against terrorism with just as much energy.”
Bridey, a member of the French delegation accompanying President Emmanuel Macron on his trip, said France’s involvement in counter-terrorism goes beyond the coalition, and that Paris will continue to play a leading role in fighting terror even if US troops do leave the country.
“It's never very good when a large power withdraws its troops from a conflict that it has led. We're seeing that now in what is happening in Afghanistan. France is working with the Iraqis and Kurds beyond the coalition. Even if the Americans leave, even if France can’t take over all the responsibilities of the Americans, France will continue to be beside Iraq and the Kurds to lead the fight against terrorism.”
President Macron has said that France will stay in Iraq even if the US pulls out its remaining troops.
“No matter the choice the US makes, we will maintain our presence to fight terrorism in Iraq as long as terrorist groups continue to operate and as long as the Iraqi government ask us for support," he said in a press conference on Saturday.
Following the US assassination of top Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, the Iraqi parliament passed a non-binding resolution calling on the expulsion of foreign troops from the country. Bases hosting coalition troops have come under regular attack since then.
French special forces were involved in an operation in Diyala which killed at least six ISIS militants in June.
Regarding foreign ISIS suspects held in Iraq in Syria, Bridey said France’s position on the matter remains unchanged.
“France has always been clear on this topic. All these individuals, if they have committed crimes in Iraq or Syria, must be judged in Iraq or Syria. If they are convicted, they should serve their sentence where they were arrested, or where they committed these acts,” adding that repatriation of ISIS-linked children from camps in Syria is done on a “case-by-case basis.”
Close relations between France and the Kurdistan Region have endured despite changes in leadership, the French politician added.
“The friendship between our two countries, between France and the Kurdistan Region, is a continuous factor of French politics, whoever is the president, whoever is the majority in Paris.”
“There are constant ties despite the change in people, responsibilities. We must continue in this direction.”
Interview by Shahyan Tahseen
