US Reportedly Tells Iraq About Plans for ‘Step By Step’ Troop Withdrawal

Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images.

The United States will withdraw its combat troops from Iraq, reported a BBC World Service correspondent on Thursday.

Nafiseh Kohnavard, the BBC correspondent, reported that Brett McGurk, the National Security Council Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, informed Iraqi officials that the withdrawal would be what Iraqi sources described to Kohnavard as “step by step” in that McGurk told the officials that “first combat troops will leave and then others.” It has been planned for a while to reduce U.S. combat troops from Iraq. No official timeline has been set for the withdrawal.

Those Iraqi sources told the BBC correspondent, “Withdrawal from Iraq will not be like what happened in Afghanistan and it will be step by step. The schedule for this will be agreed during [the] Iraqi [prime minister]’s trip to Washington.” The visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi will be at the end of July.

The pending withdrawal comes amid a recent spate of Iranian-backed attacks on U.S. troops and diplomats in Iraq. The United States returned to Iraq in 2014, three years after withdrawing from the country and ending the eight-year war, in response to the rise of the Islamic State. Currently, there are approximately 3,500 U.S. troops in Iraq.

Al-Kadhimi’s office said that “the mechanism for withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq were discussed” in a meeting between McGurk and Al-Kadhimi in Baghdad on Thursday.

A senior U.S. official denied what the Iraqi officials told Kohnavard, responding, “The discussions today focused on the upcoming strategic dialogue and strengthening the U.S.-Iraqi partnership.”