Iraqi Parliament Holds Urgent Session on U.S. Troop Exit
(AWP) - The Iraqi parliament decided to refer a draft on the exit of the international coalition forces to the Security and Defense Committee, as well as the Legal Committee, for voting in future sessions.
The parliament also decided to host security commanders concerned with the negotiations with their U.S. counterparts on the departure of coalition troops.
The Iraqi news agency said that the acting speaker of parliament, Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, gave instructions to form a follow-up and support committee on the government’s negotiations to terminate the mission of the international coalition forces.
Mandalawi added that the parliament will ask the Prime Minister and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to host the concerned army personnel and foreign ministry officials at parliament this week, the agency added.
The parliament session was convened upon a request by more than 100 legislators, who demanded the government to implement an earlier decision regarding the withdrawal of foreign forces from the country, to be implemented by the end of June at the latest.
Hussein Al-Amry, an MP and member of the parliament’s Security and Defense committee, said, “regarding the timeframe of the U.S. forces withdrawal from Iraqi territories, we support the Iraqi government’s decision, and all measures of negotiations with the international coalition forces. We officially requested that the Prime Minister represent the parliament’s Security and Defense Committee in the negotiations to get abreast of the content of the talks with the U.S. forces.”
Another MP and member of the parliament’s Security and Defense committee, Mohamed Al-Shimary, said that the government had announced that it did not need U.S. or any foreign troops.
“Iraq has enough equipment and forces to keep the country safe,” stressed Shimary.
Mo’een Al-Kadhimi, a member of the Iraqi parliament from the Coordination Framework bloc, said that opinions put forth the political parties and the House of Representatives will urge the government to implement the House’s 2020 decision on the departure of U.S. forces from Iraq, which date to when the coalition’s name was changed from ‘combat forces’ to ‘consultative forces’.
“What is required now is to terminate this presence, and to shift towards bilateral diplomatic relations,” he noted.
After a series of U.S. strikes on Iraqi armed groups last month, Iraq announced that it agreed with Washington on the formation of a committee to discuss the future of the U.S.-led international coalition in Iraq, to design a timeframe for the withdrawal of the forces, and to end the coalition’s mission.