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A Special Forces Soldier conducts weapons training with Iraqi Security Forces. Photo: Sgt. Kyle Alvarez / US Army
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The upcoming strategic dialogue between Washington and Baghdad is a turning point for the two countries, says US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, David Schenker.
Speaking in an online seminar hosted by the Middle East Institute on Thursday, Schenker said the US-Iraq strategic dialogue hopes to create the space for a new era in relations between Washington and Iraq.
“To reset and renew our relationship with Iraq, will be renewing our strategic dialogue next week and we hope to follow up with an in-person meeting sometime in July or August, when travel and meetings will be permitted,” Schenker said.
US Secretary of State Pompeo has suggested a wide range of strategic issues between the US and Iraq would be on the table, “including the future presence of the United States forces in that country and how best to support an independent and sovereign Iraq,” Pompeo said at a Washington press briefing on April 8.
Iraqi soil has been a stage of tit-for-tat strikes between America’s and Iran’s forces. Iraqi military bases hosting US troops have come under repeated rocket attacks in recent months, and US officials suspect the attacks were launched by pro-Iran militants.
When the US Army published its long-awaited 1,300-page study spanning the 15 years that followed 2003’s American-led invasion of Iraq, it concluded that the only winner in the long, costly, and bloody conflict — which has plagued ever since then — was Iran.
Years later, despite then-President George W. Bush’s promises that the invasion and toppling of Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein would benefit both the American and Iraqi people, Iran’s influence in Baghdad is stronger than ever.
A deadly rocket attack on the K-1 Base in Kirkuk last December led to an escalation in hostilities that culminated in the US-ordered assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad on January 3.
Tehran retaliated on January 8 with a barrage of missiles targeting Iraqi bases hosting US troops. In response to the assassinations on Iraqi soil, pro-Iran factions in the Iraqi parliament held a non-binding vote to expel foreign forces from the country.
The US has deployed Patriot air defense batteries to Ain al-Assad military base in Anbar province, and another to Erbil.
Iraq is also home for dozens of Iran-backed militias under the umbrella of Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which were created in 2014 by a fatwa – or religious call to action – from Iraq’s highest Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in response to the threat of the Islamic State (ISIS).
Iranian advisers and support for the majority-Shiite militias helped halt ISIS’ advance, which came dangerously close to Baghdad, and came weeks before the US began a bombing campaign against the militants. From then on, the militias became instrumental in the battle winning massive support from the Iraqi public.
Although the PMF have been nominally incorporated with the Iraqi military, brigades continue to act independently, and several units are under the direct command of Tehran.
Iraq also hosts more than 5,000 US troops advising and assisting Iraqi and Kurdish forces as part of the Global Coalition Against Daesh, the Arabic term for ISIS.
The escalation between the two foreign powers on its soil has posed Iraqi leaders with a stark choice between Iran and America. Iran, and its allies in the Iraqi parliament, want American forces out — but others would prefer American forces stay and continue aiding Iraq in the fight against ISIS.
The US footprint in Iraq spans not only the security sector, but also its politics and economy. But Baghdad’s friendly relations with Tehran and close economic ties have ired Washington, which has warned Iraq’s politicians they tread a thin line between spoiling and preserving a fruitful partnership.
“However, that partnership requires that Iraq exercises sovereignty, particularly when it comes to external forces, and proxies threatening the safety of US and coalition forces and diplomatic personnel,” Schenker added, hinting at Iranian forces’ influence over its neighbor.
Despite the drawdown and repositioning of US forces in Iraq, Washington appears to remain committed to tackling pro-Iran forces in Iraq.
“The strategic dialogue allow us to confront Iraqi leaders with a stark choice,” says Schenker. “If Iraqis choose to act like a sovereign state…then a readjusted bilateral relationship will continue to bring great advantages to Iraq.”
“If they don’t make that choice,” he added, “we won’t be able to sustain our commitment or presence in Iraq,” the American official said.
Pompeo said the US-Iraq strategic dialogue will begin in mid-June.
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