Former diplomats weigh Iraq withdrawal and region’s future

U.S. military presence formally ends

U.S. forces formally withdrew from Iraq today, ending a long and turbulent military presence. The departure prompted celebrations in Iraq’s capital, while also raising concern about what comes next for the country and the surrounding region.

Those reactions capture two parts of the same transition. The celebrations marked the completion of the withdrawal itself. The concern centered on the period after U.S. forces leave and the regional questions that remain unresolved.

The withdrawal is a clear change in the U.S. role: American forces have left, and attention now turns to how Iraq and other countries in the region respond. The differing public reactions also show that the formal end of a military presence does not settle every question connected to it.

Former ambassadors discuss what follows

PBS NewsHour’s Geoff Bennett discussed the withdrawal and the region’s future with James Jeffrey and Feisal Istrabadi, two former diplomats with direct experience representing their countries on Iraq-related issues.

Jeffrey served as the U.S. ambassador to Iraq during President Barack Obama’s administration. Istrabadi served as Iraq’s ambassador to the United Nations. Their backgrounds bring both U.S. and Iraqi diplomatic perspectives to the discussion.

The immediate milestone is the completed withdrawal. The next phase concerns how Iraq navigates the end of the American military presence and how that change affects the wider region. Public celebrations and concern will remain important measures of how Iraqis view that transition.