Mail delivery to service members in Iraq resumes after suspension
U.S. troops in Iraq could soon see more care packages inbound.
Mail delivery to military APO and FPO addresses in the country has resumed after a weekslong suspension that began in the wake of the U.S. killing of a top Iranian official and a retaliatory strike by Iran on two bases housing American forces.
Deliveries to several posts were temporarily stopped Jan. 13, reportedly to prevent a backlog of mail in the days after the Jan. 8 ballistic missile strike that hit al Asad Air Base in western Anbar province and a base at the international airport in Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdish region.
U.S. Central Command referred questions about the mail service this week to the State Department, where an official confirmed that deliveries had resumed.
The mailroom was operating normally “despite some earlier distribution delays,” an unnamed official at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said Monday in response to a query.
“We regret the delays, but have been working diligently to address the issues that led to a temporary stoppage,” the official said.
Ronald Moeller, the father of a deployed soldier, confirmed that his local post office in South Dakota would again accept packages bound for military addresses in Iraq, he told Stars and Stripes on Tuesday.
The mail delay in Iraq was the result of U.S. forces being repositioned in the country, a coalition official said over the weekend. At least some deliveries had resumed Saturday, the official said.
Some 5,200 American forces and several thousand allied troops make up the coalition’s contingent in Iraq, where they aid government forces battling the Islamic State group through training, advising and assisting them with intelligence, airstrikes and other combat support.
In the wake of a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad that killed Iranian Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qassim Soleimani on Jan. 3, the coalition had suspended training and support for Iraqi anti-ISIS operations and began moving troops to focus on increased security.
Last week, the Iraqi government announced that coalition training had resumed.