US formally announces troop reduction in Iraq

The United States military on Wednesday announced that it would reduce its presence in Iraq from 5,200 to 3,000 troops this month, formalising a long-expected move.

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

The US has around 5,200 troops that were deployed in Iraq to fight the IS 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 US 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.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, asked by reporters if he supported the drawdown, said: "Yes I do as long as there's a plan to figure out how he’s going to deal with ISIS."

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.

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