Post-Covid-19 scenarios for US presence in Iraq

Menna Abdelrazik

American military presence in Iraq might undergo some change after the end of the current Covid-19 pandemic.

This is especially true in the light of the decision U.S. President Donald Trump took in October 2019 to pull some troops out of eastern Syria and redeploy them in the northwestern part of Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Popular mobilization forces

The Popular Mobilization Forces, which receive backing from Iran and are deployed in different parts of Iraq and on the country’s shared border with Syria, are America’s toughest adversaries in Iraq.

Washington started a fierce campaign against the forces in mid-2019. It killed forces’ senior commander Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis in a rocket attack.

Since then, the two sides have been exchanging blows. Earlier this year, the Popular Mobilization Forces fired 18 rockets on al-Taji Military Base. The attack left two American troops dead. On March 12, the U.S. killed 18 Popular Mobilization Forces fighters.

Reconciliation and dialogue

Michael Knights, a Boston-based senior fellow of the Washington Institute, specializing in the military and security affairs of Iraq, Iran, and the Persian Gulf states, called for readjusting strategic relations between Iraq and the U.S.

He referred in a research to the importance of making efforts for the success of the strategic dialogue between Baghdad and Washington, especially given the pressures practiced on U.S. troop presence in Iraq.

Emad Allow, an advisor of the European Center for Counterterrorism and Intelligence Studies, said the U.S. would most likely maintain troop presence in Iraq and mend fences with the Arab state.

He added in a research that was released earlier this month that the U.S. had sent a message to outgoing Iraqi prime minister Adel Abdel Mahdi on April 8, asking for the initiation of strategic dialogue between Iraq and the U.S.