Summary

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced that a strategic dialogue will be initiated with the Iraqi government beginning in June. Though the new talks will outline economic cooperation between the two countries, the front-and-center issue will be the future of the 5,200 US troops that remain in Iraq. These troops have become a strategic liability in recent months, evident in their repeated targeting by Iran-backed militias and, in early January, a direct missile strike in retaliation for the US killing of General Qasem Soleimani.