Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi intends to discuss putting an end to the presence of US armed forces on the territory of his country at the upcoming July 26 meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington.
Kadhimi is expected to push for a concrete timetable of American troop withdrawal, that could take years considering some 3,500 foreign troops are still on Iraqi territory.
At the same time, Al-Kadhimi praised the role of the United States in Iraq, adding that US assistance will be important in the future for the training of the Iraq’s army as well as in the educational, cultural, economic, and other spheres.
He had previously discussed the withdrawal of troops from Iraq with US envoy Brett McGurk in Baghdad in light of the growing number of attacks on American targets in Iraq in recent months, that has been an arena for bitter rivalry between the US and Iran for a long time despite their shared enmity towards IS.
Pointing that negotiations between the US and Iran will have an impact on the region, the Iraqi prime minister expressed hope that his country would not be the scene of a US-Iranian conflict.
Biden administration has previously announced the July 26 a meeting of the US President with the Iraqi PM at the White House with an aim to advance bilateral cooperation under the Strategic Framework Agreement.
The meeting comes as Democrats are working to repeal the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) in Iraq which, if it’s passed by the Senate, would prevent the president from carrying out attacks in Iraq without securing prior approval from Congress.
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