Iraq, US conclude talks, formally ending combat mission

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) - Iraq and the U.S.-led coalition concluded a final round of technical talks to formally transition from a combat mission tasked with rooting out the extremist Islamic State group to an advisory mission to assist Iraqi forces, security officials announced Thursday.

The talks - which centered on the transition - formally end the coalition's combat mission, tweeted Qassim al-Araji, Iraq's national security advisor. He said the coalition would continue providing assistance, advice and training for Iraqi forces.

The announcement reaffirms a July decision by the Biden administration to end the U.S. combat mission in Iraq by Dec. 31. There are roughly 2,500 U.S. troops remaining in Iraq. It is unclear how many will remain in the next phase of coalition assistance.

The coalition said Thursday it was prepared to end the combat mission before the set deadline, said Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga Big. Gen. Hazhar Ismail, who attended the meeting in Baghdad.

'œThey said we are ready starting from today,'ť he said.

But the formal end of the combat mission is unlikely to change the facts on the ground; the coalition stopped engaging in combat missions early in 2020. Since then, the main U.S. focus has been assisting Iraqi forces, not fighting on their behalf.

Iraqi security forces still require coalition air support to conduct strikes on IS targets and for intelligence gathering, both Iraqi and Kurdish security officials have said. They also need assistance maintaining U.S. provided weaponry and equipment.

Iraq has witnessed an uptick in IS attacks lately across a stretch of disputed northern territory that has long served as a hotbed for militant activity.

The intention to shift from a U.S. combat role to one focused on training and advising Iraqi security forces was announced earlier, in April, when a joint U.S.-Iraqi statement said this allowed for the removal from Iraq of any remaining U.S. combat forces on a timetable to be determined later.

For years, U.S. troops have played support roles in Iraq and in neighboring Syria, from where IS swept across the border in 2014 to capture large swaths of Iraqi territory, prompting the U.S. to send troops back to Iraq that year.