Iraqi MPs demand timeline for foreign troop withdrawal

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Members of the Iraqi Parliament on Thursday demanded the government prepare a timeline for the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country, the Parliament Speaker’s office said in a statement.

“The Iraqi Parliament expresses its gratitude to all the countries which have supported Iraq in its fight against [the Islamic State (IS)] and calls for the government to draw up a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops,” the statement read.

In 2014, a US-led coalition was formed consisting of thousands of troops from 74 countries who provided air, ground, and intelligence support to Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi security forces in the fight against IS.

Following Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s “final victory” announcement against the extremist group last December, the US-led coalition said it was “adjusting” its role as it shifted away from combat operations.

Brigadier General Jonathan Braga, the coalition’s director of operations, said in early February that “an appropriate amount of capabilities” would be kept in Iraq as well as the forces required to train, advise, and equip Iraqi troops.

Thursday’s Parliament vote was backed by a majority of the 177 lawmakers present, Reuters reported.

The vote comes at a time when threats from Iranian-backed factions within Iraq against the presence of foreign troops, specifically those from the US, have increased.

Last month, the leader of the Iranian-backed Shia militia Asaib Ahl al-Haq warned that his forces would “turn Iraq into a dark night” over US troops.

Meanwhile, US Army Colonel Ryan Dillon said America’s “continued presence in Iraq [would] be conditions-based, proportional to need, in coordination with and by the approval of the Iraqi government.”