With U.S. troops in Iraq at 5,200, U.S. Central Command’s Gen. Frank McKenzie foreshadowed a further withdrawal related to negotiations with the Iraqi government, noting the Iraqi army was “good enough” to fight the Islamic State.
“I think it is good enough to fight effectively against ISIS,” the commander overseeing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan said Thursday on an Aspen Security Forum virtual discussion hosted by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius.
“It doesn’t have to be good enough to fight us. It doesn’t need to be good enough to fight a major Western opponent. It needs to be good enough to fight and finish ISIS,” McKenzie said of the 250,000-strong force that the United States and NATO have been training in Iraq.
McKenzie underscored that a continued U.S. presence in Iraq is needed for counterterrorism operations and is strongly supported by the Iraqi government.
“There is no appetite on the part of the Iraqis for a precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces,” McKenzie said.
McKenzie separated training of the Iraqi army and U.S. support in the counterterrorism fight in Iraq.
“ISIS, while substantively defeated, certainly as a ground-holding operation still has the capability to pose threats in Iraq and Syria, and there is work that yet has to be done there, and that is work that we can help them do,” he said.
McKenzie said NATO, which currently has 500 trainers and support staff in Iraq, is part of that effort.
McKenzie also said he was “very pleased” with the progress of the strategic dialogue between the U.S. and the Iraqi government that began last week. The general said he expected Iraqi negotiators to travel to Washington to continue conversations next month if coronavirus conditions allow.
‘Rebalancing’ forces outside the Middle East
The CENTCOM commander said with the Iraqi army conducting more operations independently or with only U.S. intelligence and fire support, a drawdown is underway and will result from current negotiations with the Iraqi government.
“We’re in the process of rightsizing our force structure there,” he said. “It’s been large. We’re probably going to get smaller.”
McKenzie declined to specify a number and highlighted that Iran seeks a total “ejection” of U.S. forces from the region through the political process but will not achieve it.
“That is profoundly frustrating to Iran,” he said.
In offering full-throated support for the National Defense Strategy’s call for attention to the great power competition with China and Russia, McKenzie indicated American soldiers are needed in other theaters.
“You eventually want to get smaller because we do have other uses for those forces, and there are other things we can do outside the CENTCOM [area of responsibility],” he said. “We need to be ready to compete against peer competitors on a global scale, and that is going to require that we look at places where we have been focused for a long time and take steps to rebalance.”
