Iraqi militias, backed by Iran, have announced an agreement to halt attacks on US bases, in return for the withdrawal of US troops from the country. The US drone strike that killed an important Iranian General, Qassem Soleimani, as well as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an Iraqi Shia parliament member, in early January, is considered to have provoked the agreement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although no deadline was set, armed Iraqi groups made it clear that they did not welcome US troops in their country and if the US failed to comply, US bases and forces would once again be the target of attacks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The majority of previous attacks are suspected to have been tied to Kata’ib Hezbollah, an Iraqi militant group, which has denied responsibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This announcement comes at a crucial time for the US, as it prepares for a presidential election in early November. If the US votes in a new president, replacing Donald Trump, a shift in power could affect the deal or no deal situation in Iraq. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Evidently, the deal involves a risk either way- for both sides. Its a decision that has been debated and discussed for years, and if it’s not executed properly, serious damage could be done. It’s hard to say what is and isn’t the right decision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the US agrees to produce a plan to fully withdraw all troops from the region, the Iran-influenced Iraqi militant groups will increase influence throughout the country, possibly causing further socio-political instability and clashes with the Kurds in the region. One of the greatest fears is the possible return of ISIS’s power in the region. This could lead to catastrophic results in Iraq. On the other hand, Iraq would no longer be affected by the US’s national-gain-centered policies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the US’s side of the issue, a decrease in US influence in the region could go both ways. The withdrawal of troops may be seen as a benefit, as the US has already been speaking of pulling out of the region for years, but it could also affect relations between the two countries. It may lead to the US seeing negative influence within Iraq, worsening relations; although, it may also reduce tensions between the nations, as Iraq hasn’t always benefited from US involvement anyways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iraq, officially known as the Republic of Iraq, operates under a parliamentary republic system with an executive presidency. It also has an unrecognized quasi-state known as Kurdistan, in its northern region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The topic can be viewed on the domestic\/state level with the involvement of US troops in Iraq, which has increased tensions with Iraqi militant groups seeking control over the area. On a regional level, conflict can be significantly tied back to religious conflict and fundamentalism, which has led to many sub-conflicts in the Middle Eastern region. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Iraqi militias, backed by Iran, have announced an agreement to halt attacks on US bases, in return for the withdrawal of US troops from the country. The US drone strike that killed an important Iranian General, Qassem Soleimani, as well as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an Iraqi Shia parliament member, in early January, is considered to have provoked the agreement. Although… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":162,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/162"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4164"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4169,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4164\/revisions\/4169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}