Iraq’s Partial U.S. Military Presence Reveals Deeper Regional Instability and Washington’s Strategic Dilemmas

As the United States publicly winds down its combat operations in Iraq, the recent revelation that several hundred American military advisers will stay at key bases signals a deeper, unresolved challenge for U.S. national security interests. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani confirmed that while many U.S. forces are drawing down, a "small unit" of roughly 250 to 350 personnel will remain at Ain al-Asad air base and other strategic locations to coordinate with forces inside Syria combating the Islamic State (IS).Is Iraq Becoming Another Failed Exit Strategy?The agreement reached last year between Baghdad and Washington appeared to mark an...