ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – US President Donald Trump said that Iraq needs to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) on its own on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said that Iraq and other countries in the region need to take action to fully defeat the group.
"At a certain point Russia, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, they are going to have to fight their battles too,” said Trump, according to AFP.
Trump again took credit for defeating ISIS, and said that countries with an ISIS presence now need to step up.
"We wiped out the caliphate 100 percent. I did it in record time,” he said. “But at a certain point, all of these other countries, where ISIS is around ... are going to have to fight them.”
Trump reiterated that he does not want US forces to stay in the Middle East indefinitely.
“Because do we want to stay there another 19 years?,” he said. “I don't think so."
The US-led international coalition to fight ISIS supported Iraq with airpower, weapons and soldiers after the group swept through the region in 2014.
Iraq announced the defeat of ISIS in late 2017 after Iraqi forces took back all of the group’s territory in the country. ISIS remains active in Iraq, though, particularly in and around Mosul and in the disputed territories between Erbil and Baghdad
US forces are stationed in Iraq under an agreement with the Iraqi government to assist Iraqi forces in their continued operations against ISIS. However, in March, Trump said the US would stay in Iraq to “watch” Iran, leading to a rebuke from Iraqi politicians.
Trump has long expressed a distaste for US involvement in the Middle East, but has not always followed through on his desire to retreat from the region.
In December 2018, Trump announced his desire to leave Syria, saying “we have defeated ISIS in Syria.”
However, US forces remain in the country, where they are assisting the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in their continued fight against ISIS. For months after the announced withdrawal, Trump did not give any indication of a timeline for the pullout.
In May, amidst heightened tensions with Iran, Trump said he would send 1,500 more troops to the Middle East.
Trump also again threatened to release ISIS fighters to Europe at the conference if European states do not take back their citizens believed to have joined the group when speaking to reporters today.
The SDF is currently holding thousands of ISIS fighters in prisons.Trump has demanded Europe take back the European fighters for months, but most countries have been reluctant to do so. The UK has even stripped its citizens suspected of being in ISIS of their citizenship.
Trump last made the threat in April.
