Maliki’s coalition casts doubt on the US troop withdrawal and reveals details of al-Sudani’s agreement with the factions.
Maliki’s coalition casts doubt on the US troop withdrawal and reveals details of al-Sudani’s agreement with the factions.
2025-08-30 02:25
Shafaq News – Baghdad
The State of Law Coalition, led by Nouri al-Maliki, cast doubt on Saturday on the existence of a US troop withdrawal from Iraq, while revealing details of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s agreement with armed factions amid a “critical” regional situation.
Coalition member Hussein al-Maliki told Shafaq News Agency, “The US forces had no intention of withdrawing from Iraq. The military movements taking place are merely a repositioning and transfer of soldiers between bases.”
He explained that the Americans “only worked to change some sensitive military sites at Ain al-Asad base and some other bases, and that the goal was not to withdraw, as some are trying to promote.”
He believed that “the American side has a launching point and a central circle for its forces’ operations in Iraq or Syria, and its supply lines are available from the Jordanian side, and therefore there is no real withdrawal from Iraq.”
Al-Maliki pointed out that “the failure of US forces to withdraw did not prompt Iraqi factions to take any military action against those forces. There is an understanding and agreement between al-Sudani and the factions, especially if Washington does not take any military action against the factions inside Iraqi territory, because the Iraqi situation cannot tolerate any security escalation in light of the presence of external and internal conspiracies against the Iraqi interior.”
On Friday, a Pentagon official confirmed to Shafaq News Agency that the review of the status of US forces in Iraq is ongoing, with a commitment to end the coalition’s mission by September 2025 and to support operations to defeat ISIS in Syria until September 2026.
Meanwhile, the US Embassy denied reports of a complete troop withdrawal from Baghdad, stressing that the Combined Joint Task Force is operating according to the timeline agreed upon in the joint statement issued on September 27, 2024, with the mission shifting toward a more traditional bilateral security relationship with Iraq.
Earlier, Iraqi government sources confirmed to Shafaq News Agency that the government had agreed with the international coalition countries, led by the United States, on a timetable for withdrawing forces and ending the coalition’s mission by September 2026.
A security source revealed on August 20 that the last US soldier will leave Ain al-Asad base on September 15, after which the coalition headquarters will be permanently closed.
The schedule includes the withdrawal of forces from Ain al-Asad and Baghdad by the end of September 2025, with a portion of them being transferred to Erbil and Kuwait, and a gradual reduction of the number of troops from approximately 2,000 to less than 500 in Erbil.
shafaq.com
