US to Withdraw 500 More Troops From Iraq Under Fresh Agreement - Iraqi Foreign Minister

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th November, 2020) Iraq has reached an agreement with the United States on the withdrawal of extra 500 US servicemen from the middle Eastern country, in addition to the already existing pledge to reduce the US military presence to 2,500, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said on Wednesday.

"Baghdad and Washington maintain strategic dialogue on many issues, including security and counter-terrorism effort. The dialogue ... has resulted, in particular, in the decision on phased withdrawal of the US forces from the Iraqi territory, and the adoption of the program of this withdrawal.

At that point, there were 5,200 US troops in Iraq. An agreement was reached at the talks to reduce that number to 2,500. As a result of agreements between the two countries' experts, and contacts of the Iraqi prime minister with the US secretary of state, a decision was recently made to pull 500 more US servicemen from Iraq in the near future," Hussein said at a press conference.