Washington and Baghdad announce a joint agreement to end the international coalition mission in Iraq

On Friday evening, Washington and Baghdad issued a joint statement announcing their agreement to set a timetable for ending the international coalition’s mission in Iraq, to be within 12 months starting today, and no later than the end of September 2025.

According to the statement seen by Anadolu Agency, it was decided to end the mission of the international coalition to fight ISIS in Iraq within the next 12 months, and no later than the end of next September, starting today, Friday.

They announced “a transition to bilateral security relations in a way that supports Iraqi forces and maintains pressure on ISIS.”

It was also decided to continue the coalition's military mission operating in Syria from a platform determined by the Supreme Military Committee until September 2026, citing the need to "prevent the return of the terrorist threat of ISIS from northeastern Syria," according to the same statement.

The statement added: “In order to enhance the safe and orderly termination of the international coalition’s military mission, the Government of Iraq reaffirms its commitment, in line with its international obligations, to protect international advisers present in Iraq at the invitation of its government.”

In a related context, the Iraqi News Agency quoted Rabie Nader, Director of the Media Office of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, as saying: “The government has fulfilled its most important obligations in the government program, which includes the official announcement of the date for the end of the international coalition’s mission in Iraq.”

In December 2023, Al-Sudani confirmed that his country was moving towards ending the presence of the international coalition in the country led by Washington, days after American strikes that Baghdad considered “hostile and an infringement of sovereignty” on Iraqi sites.

The United States currently has about 2,500 troops in Iraq, and the international coalition, led by Washington, includes other countries such as France and Spain, and was established in 2014 to combat the terrorist organization ISIS, which controlled large areas of Iraq and Syria.

Recently, there have been escalating demands in Iraq to end the mission of the international coalition and withdraw American forces from the country, following mutual strikes between these forces and Iraqi armed groups linked to Iran, against the backdrop of a devastating Israeli war waged by Israel with American support on the Gaza Strip since October 7.

(Anatolia)