The United States Will Withdraw Almost Half of Its Soldiers from Iraq

More than 2,000 US troops will return home from Iraq by the end of September. The US wants to reduce its Iraq contingent from 5,200 to 3,000 by the end of September. The move has been agreed with the Iraqi government and coalition partners, US Central Command Chief Kenneth Mackenzie said Wednesday in Baghdad. The troop reductions got possible because of "the great Iraqi military success," he said. Reducing the military contingent outside the United States is one of the foreign policy priorities of US President Donald Trump. On November 3, elections will be held in the country, and he positions himself as the president, thanks to whom long wars will end, and American soldiers will return home, dpa agency recalled. According to Mackenzie, the US military remaining in Iraq will continue to assist the Iraqi security forces in eliminating the last hotbeds of the Islamic State (IS) group. US and Iraq are trying to stabilize relations In August, Washington and Baghdad jointly announced their intention to reduce the US military presence in Iraq. The statement was the result of a "strategic dialogue" aimed at stabilizing tensions between the two countries. In early 2020, there was an exacerbation of US-Iraqi relations. The reason was assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in the Baghdad area with the US Air Force involvement. The Iraqi parliament reacted to demanding all American soldiers’ withdrawal from the country. Relations have partially stabilized after in early May was formed a new Iraq government, led by former national intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kazemi, who advocates dialogue between Iraq and the United States.