WASHINGTON, July 26 (Xinhua) -- President Joe Biden said on Monday the U.S. military will end its combat mission in Iraq by the end of the year.
"Our role in Iraq will be to ... continue to train, to assist, to help and to deal with ISIS (Islamic State) as it arises, but we're not going to be, by the end of the year, in a combat mission," Biden said at the Oval Office with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.
"Our counter-terrorism cooperation will continue even as we shift to this new phase," he said.
There are now around 2,500 U.S. troops in Iraq. U.S.-led coalition forces have been deployed in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces in the battles against the Islamic State, mainly providing training and advising to the Iraqi forces.
