ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi hosted US Central Command (CENTCOM) Chief Brad Cooper on Wednesday, with the two sides affirming their commitment to concluding the mission of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State (ISIS), accordingly ending "foreign military presence" in the country by September-end, the premier's office said in a statement.
Zaidi affirmed his commitment to the September 30 deadline, which "will be a fixed and final deadline for ending the Global Coalition's military mission in Iraq and completing the withdrawal of its forces," the statement said, further quoting the Iraqi premier as saying that October 1 would “mark a new day in the course of the Iraqi state, as Iraq will be free of any foreign military presence.”
The two senior officials affirmed their "final agreement" on ending the Coalition's mission, in line with what was agreed upon during Zaidi's mid-July visit to Washington, reiterating that "Iraqi-American relations will move toward cooperation and partnership in the economic, developmental, and security fields, based on mutual respect for the sovereignty and shared interests of both countries," the statement added.
During his trip to the United States, Zaidi met with President Donald Trump, Special Envoy for Iraq and Syria Tom Barrack, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, among other officials.
Iraqi government spokesperson Sabah al-Numan then told Rudaw that talks centered on elevating ties between Baghdad and Washington to partnership level, adding that after the end of September, neither American forces nor troops of other nationalities will remain in Iraq.
"The issue of placing all weapons under state control was central during the discussions" held in those meetings, Numan added, pointing to the Iraqi premier's "commitment and determination" to conclude the file within a timeline he described as "fixed and irreversible."
In his inaugural address before the Iraqi parliament in mid-May, Zaidi vowed security reform, including "confining weapons under state control," and in early June he ordered the formation of a committee to oversee the disengagement of political parties and armed factions from the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).
The PMF was established in 2014 amid the emergence of ISIS in Iraq, which saw large parts of the country's north and west seized by the group.
Created in response to a religious edict issued by Iraq's highest Shiite authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the PMF was initially an umbrella organization of roughly 70 predominantly Shiite armed groups, with some 250,000 members.
Though a state-funded institution, the PMF comprises factions aligned with the Iran-led ‘Axis of Resistance,’ with the core overlap including the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, Kata'ib Hezbollah, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, and Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada armed groups.
While some factions have expressed willingness to comply with Zaidi's push, others have cited the continued presence of foreign forces - namely those of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS - as pretext for refusing to comply.
Nonetheless, Zaidi on Wednesday affirmed to Cooper that by the end of September, Baghdad would have achieved complete "sovereignty over its territory," and would continue building "its security and military capabilities in a way that enables it to protect its own security and stability."
"Confining weapons to the hands of the state, in accordance with the law, protects everyone, strengthens the authority and sovereignty of the state, ensures security and stability, and represents a fundamental condition for moving Iraq into a new phase of development and prosperity," the Iraqi premier asserted.”
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