Iraq’s Kurdish news agency, Rudaw News, based in Erbil, reported yesterday that U.S. and Iraqi officials had completed two days of talks at the Pentagon on the future of the U.S. military presence in Iraq. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with Iraqi Minister of Defense Thabet Muhammad al-Abbasi on July 23 at the Joint Security Cooperation Dialogue. The Iraqi delegation was headed by officials from the Defense Ministry, the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), and Kurdistan’s Peshmerga. The U.S. delegation was led by officials from the Central Command, State Department, and other U.S. agencies.
However, there seems to be a divergence of views as to the long-term future of the U.S. military mission. Austin said that ISIS “continues to plot attacks ... from the region and through its global affiliates. So, we must adapt the mission of Inherent Resolve to meet this changing threat,” implying that the mission must continue.
