Talk of US Iraq withdrawal is disconnected from ISIS threat- Opinion

Cameron McMillan and Bradley Bowman

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The bulk of U.S. forces will depart Iraq over the next two years, leaving only a residual force in the semiautonomous region of Kurdistan to provide security to Iraqi Kurds and sustain U.S. forces in Syria, according to Iraqi officials cited in a Sept. 12 report in the Washington Post.

That follows, and at least partially contradicts, previous reporting from Reuters, and Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder could not provide clarity Thursday when asked.

A premature U.S. departure from Iraq that ignores the advice of military leaders and conditions on the ground risks repeating the mistakes of past withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan and catalyzing an ISIS resurgence.

Under the U.S.-Iraqi Higher Military Commission, the United States and Iraq have agreed to discuss a transition to a “new phase of the bilateral security relationship,” though it remains unclear what that relationship would look like and how the U.S. force presence in Iraq would be impacted.

While the details of the future U.S. military posture in Iraq remain murky, the consequences of a premature withdrawal are clear.