All foreign forces in Iraq should be removed: Sunaid
Nasr
Alliance figure Ali al-Sunaid called for the withdrawal of all foreign troops
from Iraq, including Iranian and Turkish forces, saying that the removal
decision should be general.
He
added that this should be done after consulting with the government to exclude the
experts the country needs.
Sunaid, a member of the party headed by former Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, asserted
that Abadi found only US troops in Iraq when he took the post, as they were acting
within the framework of the global coalition fighting ISIS.
However,
earlier in February, Nasr Alliance MP Nada Shakir said that US forces entered
the country again during the term of the former government of Haidar
al-Abadi to provide military support for the Iraqi security forces
against ISIS.
She said that there
is no need for the US troops currently, as the security situation is under
control, calling on the government of Prime Minister Adil Abd al-Mahdi to
publish the terms of the strategic agreement with the United States in order to
settle the dispute over the deployment of US forces in Iraq.
The top Pentagon
official assured Iraqi leaders on Tuesday that the US will stick to its limited
military role in Iraq, a message aimed at recent talks by some Iraqi
politicians of forcing a US troop withdrawal, ABC News reported.
Pat Shanahan, the
acting secretary of defense, said that in talks with Prime Minister Abd
al-Mahdi, he stressed US respect for Iraqi sovereignty, an issue that has
become a hot-button topic among Iraqis since President Donald Trump suggested
using Iraq as a base for monitoring neighboring Iran and for potential attacks
against remaining elements of the ISIS group in Syria.