Biden Announces End of Combat Mission in Iraq, Shifting Focus of U.S. Foreign Policy

(CNN) – President Joe Biden agreed on Monday Monday to formally conclude the US combat mission in Iraq before the end of the year. It is another new step to end the two long-standing military engagements that began in the years after the terrorist attacks September 11.

From the Oval Office, where he was meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Biden told reporters that the mission in the country is going to change.

“I think things are going well. Our role in Iraq will be … to be available to continue training, to assist, to help and to deal with ISIS as it arrives. But by the end of the year we will not be in a combat mission, “the president later said.

“We support the strengthening of Iraq’s democracy and we are eager to ensure that the elections progress in October,” added Biden along with the prime minister facing political problems. “And we are also committed to our security cooperation, our shared fight against ISIS. It is crucial for the stability of the region and our counterterrorism cooperation will continue, even as we move into this new phase that we will talk about,” he added.

Iraq and Afghanistan: decisions with different scope that show Biden’s focus

Unlike Biden’s decision to withdraw all US soldiers from Afghanistan, the end of the combat mission comes at the behest of Iraq. The country is caught in an attempt to balance anti-American factions, Iranian-backed militias, and the stabilizing presence of the US military.

The decision will also not lead to the withdrawal of US troops as in Afghanistan. There are currently 2,500 US troops in Iraq, and officials declined to say how that number will change after Monday’s announcement. The United States and Iraq are expected to announce that the mission will move into an advisory role before the end of the year, which means that some of the changes to current levels could happen only on paper.

Yet the two decisions best illustrate Biden’s effort to move US foreign policy away from decisions made nearly two decades ago. Instead, Biden wants to focus on threats from China, where a top US diplomat traveled this week for a series of tense meetings.

US Intervention in Iraq: A Review of History

US troops and their allies invaded Iraq for the first time in 2003, on the premise that the government led by Saddam Hussein had developed weapons of mass destruction. Those weapons were never found. As a senator, Biden voted to authorize the deployment of force against Iraq, and was even with then-President George W. Bush in the East Room of the White House when he signed the resolution. He later criticized how the Bush administration handled the war.

Then-President Barack Obama announced the withdrawal of troops from the country in 2011. But the soldiers returned in 2014 to help fight Islamic State terrorists. As vice president, Biden was largely responsible for the Iraq portfolio, traveled to the country multiple times and linked up with its various political factions.

His own son Beau served as a reservist in the country before his death from brain cancer in 2015. Biden has said he suspects that exposure to toxins produced by burning military waste resulted in his son’s illness.

Before the first meeting between the two leaders, officials from their governments held technical talks on Thursday and Friday, as part of the strategic dialogue between the two countries. As part of Monday’s meeting, Biden was scheduled to emphasize diplomatic and humanitarian support to Iraq, including a plan to provide the country with 500,000 doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine.

Iranian drones

Moving away from the combat mission does not imply a significant adjustment to the US presence in the region, which already concentrates much of its efforts on advising and assisting the Iraqi army.

In recent months, US troops in Iraq have come under fire from Iranian drones, prompting a back and forth of retaliation. Tensions rose dramatically when then-President Donald Trump ordered the attack that killed Qasem Soleimani, Iran’s top commander, during a visit to a Baghdad airport.

Although it does not represent a significant change at the troop level, the symbolic departure from Iraq remains remarkable for the president. In defending his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, Biden has repeatedly said that it is time to focus on the threats of today and not 20 years ago.

As in Afghanistan, the results of 18 years of a US presence in Iraq are mixed.

“No one is going to declare ‘mission accomplished,'” said a senior administration official, referring to the huge banner that had been displayed behind Bush on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln when he declared combat operations in Iraq more than three months after US troops first entered the country.

“The goal is the lasting defeat of ISIS,” the official said. “We recognize that pressure needs to be maintained on these networks as they seek to reconstitute themselves, but the role of US forces and coalition forces can go a long way back, you know, into the background where we are training, advising, sharing intelligence, helping with Logistics”.