[EpochTimesJuly292021]On July 26, U.S. President Biden met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Mustafa al-Kadhimi announced that the United States will end its combat mission in Iraq before the end of the year, shifting its focus from combating terrorism in the Middle East to countering threats such as the CCP and cyber warfare.
Biden said he will continue to support democracy in Iraq, including elections this fall, but the military mission there will change. Biden has set a timetable for the formal withdrawal of US troops from Lakoy. He plans to turn US military missions into consulting and training missions before the end of the year, and the US military will no longer participate in combat. Biden promised that the United States will help, but the support from now on will be mainly financial support, not military support.
The actions of the US military represent the direction of the Biden administration’s foreign policy, that is, ending the outdated response to the September 11 terrorist attacks in the past two decades and focusing on the increasingly aggressive CCP. This is the biggest threat facing the United States today.
Kadimi agreed that the U.S. military would no longer participate in front-line combat, but he insisted on seeking a continued U.S. military presence to help the Iraqi government repel the remaining forces of ISIS.
Since former President Trump ordered the reduction of its troops in Iraq last year, the number of US troops in Iraq has dropped from 3,000 to about 2,500. Due to the need to continue to perform consulting and training tasks, the next reduction in the number of troops may not be too great.
A week ago, an Iraqi delegation began meeting with officials from the Pentagon and the State Department to discuss how the United States will maintain economic, cultural, and humanitarian ties with Iraq after the combat mission ends.
It is still unclear whether the existing force of approximately 2,500 will be further reduced. In 2007, at the height of the U.S.-led war against Al Qaeda and other militant groups, the U.S. had approximately 170,000 soldiers in Iraq.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama withdrew his troops from Iraq in 2011. Since then, the “Islamic State” organization has occupied large areas of western and northern Iraq and threatened Baghdad. In 2014, Obama decided to send troops back to Iraq. The mission of the US military to train and instruct Iraqi troops originated from the return of the US military to Iraq in 2014.
In view of the possibility of the US military being attacked, the US military has always maintained a special operations force to deal with necessary military operations. In fact, there may be no obvious difference between combat troops and those involved in training and consulting. But in the past few years, the main task of the US military has been to work in large bases in Iraq, assist in gathering intelligence, and provide advice to the increasingly capable Iraqi forces in combating the “Islamic State.”
Except for special operations missions directed at the “Islamic State” militants, the US ground forces have not launched an offensive in Iraq for many years. The reason is that the U.S. military presence is challenged by Iraq’s domestic political forces. U.S. military and coalition bases are often attacked by Iraqi militias allied with Iran, which forces the U.S. to support the Iraqi government’s military presence in combating ISIS and sensitive Iraq’s domestic politics Achieve a certain balance.
In the face of the increasing aggressiveness of the CCP, the Biden administration maintains the continued U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, apart from taking risks, it has little meaning.
Biden believes that the US military went to Afghanistan because of the 9/11 terrorist attack that occurred 20 years ago, but this cannot be a reason why the US military should continue to stay there in 2021. Biden announced in April this year that the remaining 2,500 US troops in Afghanistan will withdraw from Afghanistan before the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack on September 11 this year, but the withdrawal has actually been completed.
In 2002, the White House signed a bill authorizing the use of force against Iraq. Then US President Bush accused the then Iraqi leader Saddam of accumulating weapons of mass destruction. Just last month, the House of Representatives voted to repeal the 19-year-old “license”. Critics believe it has been abused and is now obsolete. Biden also agreed.
Biden has ordered a global “posture review” of the U.S. military deployment in order to properly align the U.S. military footprint with U.S. foreign policy and national security priorities.
The Biden administration has been concerned about the CCP so far, including sanctions and condemnation of the CCP’s human rights violations in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, and the continued implementation of former President Trump’s protective tariffs against the CCP. European leaders are also willing to cooperate with Biden in taking a tougher stance against the CCP.
The CCP challenges the United States and is determined to become the dominant force in the world. This means that confrontation with the CCP has risen to the core issue of U.S. foreign policy.
Written by: Mount Charlotte
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