Peshmerga forces no more need the foreign combat forces, senior officer says
Shafaq News/ Neither the Peshmarga forces nor the Federal forces require the services of the U.S. and the Global Coalition Combat forces anymore, the Secretary-General of the Peshmerga Ministry, Jabbar Yawar, said on Wednesday.
In a statement to Shafaq News Agency, Yawar said, "the Peshmerga and the Federal forces need the support of the U.S. and Coalition forces in logistics, training, and arming."
"The Federal and Peshmarga forces also need the U.S. aid in consultation and intelligence, in addition to reconnaissance and fighter aircrafts to eradicate the hotspots of ISIS and prevent their expansion."
Earlier today, Iraqi caretaker Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, announced the complete withdrawal of the foreign combat forces from Iraq.
Al-Kadhimi tweeted, "the Coalition have fully completed their combat role after transfer of personnel and material outside Iraq. Going forward, their role will be to advise and assist our security forces per the outcome of the Strategic Dialogue."
"We thank the leadership of the Coalition, it’s members, our partners and neighbors in combating Daish and reaffirm that our security forces stand ready to defend our people," he said.
The U.S.-led coalition began its mission in 2014 to defeat Islamic State, after the militants took over vast areas of Iraq and neighbouring Syria.
Since the group's military defeat in 2017, Islamic State fighters have been unable to hold territory but are waging a continued low-level insurgency that regularly kills Iraqi soldiers and civilians in remote mountain and desert areas.
The coalition has also come under dozens of rocket and drone attacks by Iran-backed Shi'ite militias that helped defeat the Sunni extremist Islamic State and which say there is no longer a justification for Western forces to be in Iraq.
The U.S. has kept around 2,500 troops in Iraq since 2020. The Western officials say that most of those forces have been operating only in a training and advising role for some time..
