Tom Barrack: Trump Did Not Abandon Allies With Iraq Troop Withdrawal

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - US Special Envoy for Iraq Affairs Tom Barrack said Wednesday, that President Donald Trump’s decision to complete the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq after 23 years was aimed at creating a strategic balance rather than turning away from American allies.

Barrack made the remarks in a post on X marking the conclusion of the US military mission in Iraq, 23 years after the arrival of the first American troops.

“Twenty-three years after the first American boots landed in Iraq, President Trump has completed the transition of our forces home—not by walking away, but by aligning every side of the cube: Baghdad, Erbil, our regional friends, and American interests, into a single strategic picture, at the most delicate of moments,” Barrack said.

Barrack said the withdrawal was made possible by the service and sacrifices of Americans and Iraqis over the past 23 years.

“The Americans and Iraqis who served and sacrificed over those years made this possible; their service is honored by an Iraq that now stands on its own,” he said.

According to Barrack, the new strategic alignment has created an opportunity for Iraq to bring its armed forces under a unified state command.

“With that alignment, a door long closed has opened—the opportunity for Prime Minister al-Zaidi and the Iraqi people to bring all of Iraq's armed forces under one state and one chain of command, with America as a friend rather than a garrison,” he said.

Barrack described the process behind the withdrawal as a complex diplomatic and strategic undertaking, using the image of a Rubik’s cube to characterize the effort to align competing interests across the region.

“The intricate statecraft required to turn one critical cubelet in a vast regional Rubik's cube still in search of its algorithm,” he said.

He concluded his message by praising Trump for completing the transition.

“Well done, Mr. President,” Barrack said.