“Today we do not need any foreign soldier who carries weapons on the ground and fights with us. What we need from any country in the world, whether America or others, is training, arming and equipment, as well as exchanging intelligence information in order to complete building the capabilities of the Iraqi armed forces,” Yehia Rasool told Rudaw’s Shahyan Tahseen on Saturday.
“Iraqi forces are capable forces by all means to defend Iraq, the people of Iraq, and the land of Iraq, from north to south, and from east to west,” he added. “Today, we have armed forces, a civil defense system, the armed forces and the Iraqi people are united. We fought terrorism and we can protect Iraq and the people of Iraq.”
He said Iraq will not see the instability that Afghanistan is experiencing following an American withdrawal.
Late last month, following a meeting between Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and US President Joe Biden in Washington, they announced a shift in mission for the US in Iraq: “the security relationship will fully transition to a training, advising, assisting, and intelligence-sharing role, and that there will be no U.S. forces with a combat role in Iraq by December 31, 2021.”
There are currently 3,500 foreign soldiers in Iraq, 2,500 of them Americans, as part of the global coalition against Islamic State (ISIS).
While the US is leaving, Rasool said they maintain close ties with NATO, which has a training mission in the country.
“As for the global coalition, that is NATO, it is a very important alliance and we work with it in a very strong partnership,” he said.
ISIS took control of the swathes of Iraq and Syria in the summer of 2014. It was announced territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017. However, the terror group remains active across the country, especially in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad. Militants have taken shelter in a security void that stretches across the disputed territories between Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. They ambush, kidnap, and extort both civilians and members of the Iraqi and Peshmerga forces.
Baghdad and Erbil are working to increase their collaboration in order to close that gap after recently establishing four coordination centres in the disputed areas.
“The Peshmerga or the Region’s security forces are within the Iraqi national defense system, and we respect all the sacrifices made by the Peshmerga forces, and I believe that we must work to end the threat posed by ISIS gangs and its remnants in the empty areas between the presence of the Regional forces and the federal government forces,” Rasool said. “Many joint coordination centers have been opened. I think in the coming period we will also have joint work with the Peshmerga forces. Terrorism is the enemy of everyone, and it does not differentiate between Kurdish, Arab, Muslim, Christian or any other religion.”
Iraq on Saturday hosted the Conference for Cooperation and Partnership, a summit in Baghdad in coordination with France that welcomed heads of state and foreign ministers of Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the heads of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Arab League, and the Gulf Cooperation Council to discuss regional cooperation.
Speaking to media in Baghdad, French President Emmanuel Macron said France will continue to assist Iraq battle ISIS and help people displaced by the war return home.
“No matter what choices the Americans make, we will maintain our presence in Iraq to fight against terrorism,” he said in a press conference.
