Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and a US official discussed a withdrawal of American combat troops from the country, Kadhimi’s office said in a statement to reporters. Kadhimi met on Thursday with US National Security Council Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk. The statement said that: “Discussions took place about mechanisms for combat troops’ withdrawal from Iraq, and moving forward to a new stage in strategic cooperation that develops the relationship between the two countries and enhances Iraq’s security and sovereignty.”
Biden administration officials have since denied that a troop withdrawal was discussed.
Kadhimi is scheduled to visit Washington later this month, where the topic of a troop withdrawal is likely to be at the top of his list of topics for discussion. US troops are slated to be nearly completely withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of August.
On Wednesday, Iraq’s National Security Agency chief, Abdel Ghani al-Asadi and Iran’s Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi met in Baghdad.