New York, United States – The United States will begin talks with Iraq on the withdrawal of US troops from this Middle Eastern country, CNN reported on Wednesday citing sources familiar with the matter.
“The US and Iraq are close to agreement on starting the Higher Military Commission dialogue that was announced back in August,” the report said adding the dialogue is aimed at determining concrete steps for the future withdrawal.
Currently, around 2,500 US servicemen are deployed at various bases in Iraq.
The report said that Washington wants the troop schedule to reflect the current situation in Iraq and the stability of its government and law enforcement agencies. But the Iraqi leadership believes that the timeframe of the withdrawal should not be affected by any circumstances.
Earlier on January 5, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani said that the international coalition has run out of justifications for its presence on the Iraqi soil, and Baghdad is set to take concrete measures to end foreign military presence in the country.
He also said that the Iraqi government was in the process of setting the date for the start of talks within the framework of a bilateral commission established to tackle the issue of foreign troops’ withdrawal.
The statement came after a leader of the Harakat al-Nujaba movement, Abu Taqwa, was killed during a US drone strike on Baghdad.
The Pentagon on January 8 said that it had no plans to withdraw its troops from Iraq at this point. Department of Defense spokesman Pat Ryder said he was not aware of any requests on the issue by Iraq, adding that US forces were staying in the country on a request from the legitimate government of Iraq.