Iraq is reclaiming its sovereignty, but the real power struggle will start after the Americans leave

Believing that foreign troops should leave Iraq, while questioning whether this is the right moment for them to do so and whether the country is ready for what’s next, should not be mutually exclusive. Iraq has spent years calling for an end to US military presence. The US-led coalition’s mission has changed significantly since ISIS controlled large swathes of the country and of neighbouring Syria, and Baghdad has every right to want to regain control over its own security.

But the departure of foreign forces does not resolve Iraq’s security problems; it merely changes who has to deal with them. ISIS remains a threat, even if nowhere near the force it was more than a decade ago when the Iraqi government requested foreign assistance to defeat it.