The United States has no plans to withdraw troops from Iraq and will assess the postings of American forces worldwide, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said yesterday.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper has ordered “a zero-based review” of the disposition of U.S. forces worldwide, Hoffman told reporters on Thursday.
“We’ve been going through this for many months now,” Hoffman said. “He’s sitting down with each of the combatant commands to walk through what is the right force posture; what are our right goals; what are the right countries we need to be engaging; what are the right challenges; and where can our allies and partners participate more?”
The U.S. remains in discussion with Iraq about the status of the roughly 5,000 American forces there, following reports that the country’s caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said the next government will decide whether to enforce a nonbinding vote in parliament to disinvite the U.S. troops.
“We’re still in conversations with our Iraqi host,” Hoffman said. “We continue to want to be a friend and partner to the sovereign and prosperous Iraq. At this time, there are no plans by the U.S. military to withdraw from Iraq.”
Despite the vote in Iraq’s parliament, the Pentagon believes the consensus in Iraq is that the U.S. presence there is a force for good, Hoffman said. “Having the United States forces in Iraq allows NATO to be present, as well, to help with that counter-ISIS mission as well as the training mission, to support Iraqi Security Forces.”
During the Pentagon briefing, Hoffman confirmed that Esper has ordered “a zero-based review” of the disposition of U.S. forces worldwide.
Several senators, meanwhile, alarmed by reports that Esper might dramatically reduce the U.S. footprint in Africa, are pressing the Pentagon to put any such plans on hold.
The New York Times reported just before Christmas that Esper wants to reduce U.S. missions battling distant terrorist groups in order to refocus on confronting “Great Powers” such as Russia and China.
“We write to express our serious concern regarding reports of a possible decision to significantly reduce or completely withdraw U.S. Armed Forces within the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) area of responsibility, specifically the Sahel of West Africa,” said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware in a letter to Esper yesterday.
“While we support the intent of the 2018 National Defense Strategy and the desire to do more to focus on our near-peer competitors, we must not forget the continued threat from violent extremists to our interests and our homeland,” they wrote.
Read more from our senior writer on defense and national security in today’s edition of Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense.
