Exclusive: US forces to stay in Iraq after Coalition exit
Shafaq News- Baghdad
US forces will remain in Iraq after the US-led Coalition’s mission ends to protect the American embassy, diplomatic missions and US interests, the Reconstruction and Development Coalition (Al-Ima'ar wal-Tanmiya), led by former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, said on Sunday.
Speaking with Shafaq News, Bahaa al-Araji, who heads the coalition, said Baghdad and Washington had agreed to end the Coalition mission on Sept. 30, stressing that their departure should be distinguished from the continued US presence assigned to diplomatic protection.
On weapons outside state control, al-Araji described their regulation as an “Iraqi decision,” noting that the process “cannot be completed in one day” and requires time and dialogue with armed factions.
Prime Minister Ali Falih al-Zaidi previously linked efforts to bring faction weapons under state control to the end of the Coalition mission, arguing that the departure of foreign forces would remove one of the factions’ main justifications for remaining armed. Some Iran-aligned groups have rejected that sequence.
Read more: Iraq caught between US-Iran war and September deadline
Qassim al-Araji, adviser to al-Zaidi, has recently denied that a deadline had been set for the committee tasked with bringing weapons under state control, noting that once its work is completed and weapons are fully consolidated under state authority, anyone still carrying arms illegally would be treated as an outlaw.
Read more: Iraq factions resist disarmament as coalition exit nears
