Trump Plans to Announce New U.S. Troop Reductions in Iraq

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump plans to announce further U.S. troop reductions in Iraq on Wednesday, an administration official said late Tuesday night.

The U.S. commander in the Middle East, General Frank McKenzie, said the current level of 5,200 military personnel would be reduced to 3,000 in September, CNN reported Wednesday morning.

After sending more American forces to the Middle East in his first three years, Trump has made a number of moves in recent months to begin fulfilling a 2016 promise to get the U.S. out of what he called “endless wars.”

In January, Iraq’s parliament voted to expel American forces amid the uproar following the killing by the U.S. of Qssem Soleimani, an Iranian general who oversaw his country’s foreign military operations.

The following month, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization pledged to expand its training mission in Iraq as a quick initial response to Trump’s call for the alliance to play a bigger role in the Middle East. That was after attacks on on two bases used by American armed forces as retaliation for the airstrike in Baghdad that killed Soleimani.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.