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US troop drawdown seen as boosting Iraq’s Abadi

The US decision to withdraw troops from Iraq could help the Iraqi prime minister’s re-election campaign.
U.S. military vehicles are seen in the town of Bashiqa, east of Mosul, during an operation to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq, November 7, 2016. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari - S1AEULMKDCAB

The US military’s decision to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq appears aimed at helping Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s spring re-election campaign, experts told Al-Monitor.

The US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq all but confirmed today that US military advisers are beginning to leave the war-torn country. The coalition's announcement, following an early morning Associated Press report, characterized the shift as a change in mission toward “policing, border control and military capacity building” as “invited guests in Iraq” following battlefield victory against IS.

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