Al-Akhbar, citing a classified document obtained, reveals that the contents of this document show that the withdrawal of American troops from Iraqi territory is not real.
According to Pak Sahafat News Agency International Group, after the Iraqi parliament passed a resolution in January 2020 to expel all foreign troops from the country, the Americans began a relentless effort to circumvent the resolution and continue their presence and occupation in Iraq. Finally, after much wrangling at the end of last July, during Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kazemi’s visit to Washington, the two sides reached an agreement to clarify the fate of US troops on Iraqi soil and their continued presence or departure.
According to the agreement reached, Iraqi official sources recently announced that the US-led International Coalition Forces will leave Iraq and the remaining forces will have training and advisory missions. However, the Iraqi people and various parties are still protesting against the continued presence of American forces in any form, and consider the presence of American advisory and training in Iraq as a mere deception to continue the occupation in this country.
In this regard, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar recently obtained a confidential document that shows that the withdrawal of the United States from Iraqi territory is not real.
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The contents of the leaked document show the real intention of Washington to continue its presence on Iraqi soil. According to the document, Richard Bell, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the US-led International Coalition Forces in Iraq, during a meeting with Arab and foreign ambassadors and diplomats in Baghdad in September 2021, noted that the International Coalition Forces will leave Iraq on December 31, 2021. They will not withdraw, he said, adding that the statement issued after the joint Iraqi-US strategic dialogue on the withdrawal of these forces from Iraq was carefully formulated and the mission of the US coalition forces in Iraq was reconstructed about a year ago.
He added that the biggest challenge for US coalition forces today is how to legitimize their presence on Iraqi soil through the Baghdad government and constitutional institutions. At the same time, the complete withdrawal of the United States from Iraq will have catastrophic consequences (for Washington’s allies) and will increase the influence of the American opposition forces, namely the resistance groups and the popular uprising in Iraq.
The document reveals several facts, the most prominent of which is that the US withdrawal from Iraq is not real, and there are groups in Iraq who do not want US troops to withdraw and have even colluded with the Americans to make false statements about the withdrawal of US troops.
Al-Akhbar added that the fact is that there is still no clear position on the withdrawal of Americans from Iraq. Despite the fact that after the fraud in the Iraqi parliamentary elections was revealed, the new government of Iraq may be formed by repeating the scenario of the previous period by a prime minister with a pro-American orientation, but various parties and groups, including resistance groups, are still present in Iraq. They are opposed to the US occupation, and resistance groups will not remain silent if it becomes clear that some intend to circumvent the Iraqi parliament’s decision to expel foreign troops, including US troops.