Iraq to keep some US military advisers despite troop pivot to Kurdistan region
Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said some 300 US military advisers would remain at a key base in the country's Anbar province to keep eyes-on ISIS activities in the Anbar desert and prevent the jihadist group's resurgence in the Euphrates River valley.
WASHINGTON — A few hundred US military advisers will remain in federally administered regions of Iraq after the bulk of the US contingent finishes redeploying to the country’s northern Kurdistan Region, Iraq’s prime minister confirmed Monday.
Between 250 and 350 US military advisers and security personnel will remain at the Ain al-Asad Air Base, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told a small group of journalists in Baghdad, according to the Associated Press. An undisclosed number of American military personnel also currently remain at a base near the Baghdad International Airport, Al-Monitor previously reported.
The bulk of the other nearly 2,000 US troops expected to remain in the country have been relocating to al-Harir Air Base in Erbil in recent months from Ain al-Asad and Baghdad, part of an agreement struck between Sudani’s government and Washington before former US President Joe Biden left office.
Why it matters: Sudani’s comments mark the first public confirmation by his government that not all American forces will be leaving bases in federal Iraq despite the September 2025 deadline announced last year.
