Washington. July 26. INTERFAX-US President Joe Biden on Monday at a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadimi said that the American combat mission on Iraqi territory will be completed by the end of 2021, CBS News Radio reports.
"By the end of the year, we will no longer carry out a combat mission in Iraq," CBS News Radio correspondent Stephen Portnoy quotes Biden as saying.
According to US media reports, Biden clarified that the US role in Iraq will be to continue training the Iraqi military and providing assistance in the fight against IS militants (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation).
The parties reached a corresponding decision during negotiations at the White House.
Earlier in July, Prime Minister al-Kadimi said that the Iraqi troops no longer need combat assistance from the US army on the territory of the country, in connection with which he intended to discuss the withdrawal of the US contingent with representatives of the White House administration.
Al-Kadimi stressed that the Iraqi troops themselves are ready to fight against the militants of ISIL (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation) and take responsibility for this. However, according to him, the Iraqi military still needs assistance in training and intelligence assistance from the American soldiers remaining in Iraq.
