US President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a news conference on the North Portico of the White House, Sept 7, 2020.  (PATRICK SEMANSKY /AP)

WASHINGTON - The United States military on Wednesday announced that it would be reducing its presence in Iraq from 5,200 to 3,000 troops this month, formalizing a move that had been long expected.

Officials in the US-led coalition say Iraqi forces are now mostly able to handle the remnants of Islamic State on their own

Last month, Reuters reported that the United States was expected to reduce its troops presence in Iraq by about a third.

The United States has around 5,200 troops that were deployed in Iraq to fight the Islamic State militant group. Officials in the US-led coalition say Iraqi forces are now mostly able to handle the remnants of Islamic State on their own.

“We are continuing to expand on our partner capacity programs that enable Iraqi forces and allow us to reduce our footprint in Iraq,” Marine General Frank McKenzie, the head of US Central Command, said during a visit to Iraq.

A senior administration official had said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump would be announcing a reduction of US troops from Iraq.

The United States and Iraq in June affirmed their commitment to the reduction of US troops in the country in coming months, with no plans by Washington to maintain permanent bases or a permanent military presence.

In 2016 Trump campaigned on ending America’s “endless wars,” but US troops remain in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, albeit in smaller numbers.

Last month during a meeting with the Iraqi prime minister, Trump redoubled his promise to withdraw the US troops still in Iraq.

Trump’s meeting with the Iraqi leader came amid a new spike in tensions between Washington and Tehran after Washington said it would seek to reinstate all previously suspended US sanctions on Iran at the United Nations.

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Iraq’s parliament had voted earlier this year for the departure of foreign troops from Iraq, and United States and other coalition troops have been leaving as part of a drawdown.

The announcement was expected to be followed by another one in the coming days on a further reduction in US forces in Afghanistan, the senior administration official said.

The decision comes as Trump, a Republican, faces blowback from a report that he allegedly made disparaging remarks about US war dead. Trump is trailing Democratic rival Joe Biden in polls ahead of the Nov 3 election. 

The United States currently has about 8,600 troops in Afghanistan. Trump said in an interview with Axios released last month that the United States planned to lower that number to about 4,000.

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