Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq (2020)

On January 5, 2020, Iraqi Parliament voted to obligate Iraq's government "to work towards ending the presence of all foreign troops on Iraqi soil."[8] It was unclear if the resolution was binding and no timetable for withdrawal was set.[3] Qais Khazali, leader of Iranian proxy group Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, stated "If [US troops] don't leave, then they will be considered occupation forces."[3] Trump threatened to impose sanctions on Iraq in response to the vote.[9] According to a letter sent by a senior U.S. commander to Iraqi officials on January 6, 2020, "the United States may be preparing to withdraw its troops",[10] but after a while Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley, announced that it was a draft sent by "honest mistake."[11]

On January 8, 2020, Iran launched "Operation Martyr Soleimani", conducting missile strikes against U.S. troops stationed in Iraq.[10] 110 U.S. military personnel suffered from traumatic brain injuries.[12] The United States responded by insisting that its troops would stay in Iraq.[10] Speaking on the withdrawal, Trump stated "At some point, we want to get out. But this isn’t the right point."[10] Two days later, Abdul-Mahdi reiterated that all foreign troops must withdraw from Iraq, including Iran.[13] On January 24, 2020, Iraqi demonstrators marched to demand that the U.S. withdraw its troops.[14] Due to security concerns, some NATO countries including Canada, Germany, Croatia and Slovakia have declared that they are taking troops out of Iraq, at least temporarily.[15]

2nd Battalion, 7th Marines packing up gear to withdraw from Al-Taqaddum Air Base.

On March 11 and March 14, 2020, Camp Taji was attacked, supposedly by Kata'ib Hezbollah, killing three Coalition personnel.[16] The United States responded to the first attack on Camp Taji by targeting five Kata'ib Hezbollah weapon storage facilities with air strikes.[17] On March 19, 2020, the al-Qaim base near the Iraq–Syria border was transferred from the coalition to Iraqi security forces.[18] Iraqi major general Tahsin Khafaji stated "This is the first step of US troops withdrawing from Iraq."[18] On March 20, 2020, CJTF-OIR confirmed that certain troops would be withdrawing from Iraq due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[19] On that same day, United States Central Command ordered a 14-day "stop movement" preventing any U.S. troops from entering or leaving Iraq and Afghanistan because of the pandemic.[20]

The U.S. Army left the Qayyarah Airfield West on March 26, 2020.[21] The third base, K-1 Air Base, to be transferred by the United States was near Kirkuk.[22] On April 4, 2020, the coalition transferred the Al-Taqaddum Air Base, making it the fourth base to be transferred to Iraqi forces.[22] ISIL has planned to take advantage of the vacuum in the Syrian Desert caused by the coronavirus-expedited withdrawal of U.S. troops.[23] In an April 2020 news release, CJTF-OIR reiterated that the base transfers were pre-planned and "are not related to recent attacks against Iraqi bases hosting Coalition troops, or the ongoing COVID-19 situation in Iraq."[22] However, an inspector general report released in May 2020 admitted that though the base transfers were planned ahead of time, they were accelerated due to the threat of Iranian proxies and the pandemic.[24]

In May 2020, the Iranian and Iraqi ministers of defense, Amir Hatami and Juma Anad Saadoun, met in Baghdad. Hatami was expected to push a plan that included the departure of all U.S. troops.[25]

By June 2020, the Iraqi government had yet to act on the January parliamentary resolution to expel foreign troops, and the Iraqi military was reportedly reluctant to have U.S. forces leave altogether.[26] On June 1, 2020, Spain announced its intentions to withdraw from its primary base in Iraq by the end of July.[27] The United States and Iraq scheduled new negotiations regarding military, political, and economic cooperation for June.[28] Security dialogue between the two countries last occurred in 2018.[26] On June 9, 2020, prior to the start of the dialogue, a rocket attack against U.S. troops in Baghdad International Airport concluded with no injuries.[29] The Iraqi-U.S. negotiations began on June 11 and are to be conducted virtually and expected to continue for months.[26] The negotiations began amid continued tensions with Iran and a resurgence of ISIL attacks. According to The New York Times, the ISIL insurgency began to intensify by mid-2020, partially due to Iraqi security forces diverting resources to enforce curfews and lock downs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[26]