The American Wall Street Journal said that Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani confirmed that his country still needs the presence of American forces to confront the threat of the Islamic State, refusing to set a timetable for this presence.
The United States deploys about two thousand soldiers in Iraq to carry out training and advisory missions, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is carrying out a non-combat mission in Iraq, in which, according to its website, “hundreds” of personnel from several member states or partners of the alliance (Australia, Finland and Sweden) participate.
The newspaper quoted Al-Sudani in an interview with him as saying, "We believe that we still need foreign forces, and that removing the threat of the Islamic State organization from Iraq still needs more time," explaining that the threat to Iraq comes from the infiltration of ISIS cells from Syria.
The newspaper said that Al-Sudani stressed during the interview that there is no need for the presence of foreign "fighting" forces inside Iraq, and that the need remains in the role that these forces can play by training Iraqi forces and providing them with intelligence information in pursuing the remnants of the organization.
Al-Sudani, who took office last October, told the newspaper that he intends to send a high-level delegation to Washington for talks with US officials next month, adding that Iraq would like its relations with Washington to be similar to those enjoyed by Saudi Arabia and other countries. producing oil and gas in the Gulf.
He added that he did not see it impossible for Iraq to have good relations with Iran and the United States.
And the American newspaper considered Al-Sudani's position "less sharp towards Washington than that taken by his political allies in the government close to Iran."