The US announced a sharp cut Wednesday to troop numbers in Iraq, as President Donald Trump seeks to honor his pledge to halt the country's "endless wars" overseas with just two months to go until the election.

The move, reducing the Pentagon's footprint in Iraq from 5,200 military personnel to just 3,000, and an expected parallel announcement on Afghanistan, comes as Trump strives to cast himself as a peacemaker as he fights an uphill battle to stay in power.

White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany rejected suggestions that the announced drawdown was an election move, saying that "now is the time" because Iraq is stable and its security forces are well-prepared.

"End to endless wars. We hear that often. Not too often do we see that actually done," she said.

"It's a fact: President Trump has broken the 39-year-old streak of American presidents either starting a war or bringing the United States into an international armed conflict."

General Kenneth McKenzie, the head of the US military's Central Command, said in Baghdad that the drawdown was "due to our confidence in the Iraqi security forces' increased ability to operate independently."

That would take the US presence there to its lowest level since Trump's predecessor Barack Obama cut troops to a token force in 2012 in a previous attempt to end the then nine-year-old war.

But Obama was forced to reverse course by the rise of the Islamic State group (IS), raising the number of troops inside Iraq back over 5,000 as part of an international coalition to combat the jihadists.

- 'Bringing them back home' -

Cuts were already underway, with some troops just moved to Gulf-area bases due to the Covid-19 threat and rocket attacks by Iran-linked Iraqi armed groups on the Iraq operations.

But, fighting for re-election against Democrat Joe Biden, Trump has sought to honor his repeated pledge during the 2016 campaign to end US wars abroad and bring back servicemen.

"We kept America out of new wars and we're bringing our troops back home, we're bringing them back home from all these faraway places," Trump said in a campaign speech in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Tuesday.

"We've spent hundreds of billions of dollars, and what do we get out of it?" he said, adding: "Biden voted for the Iraq war."

In Baghdad some Iraqis were skeptical, recalling Obama's reversal in 2014.

But others were adamant that the US had to pull out entirely.

"We don't want to totally cut ties with America," said Ali Suleiman, an administrative worker in the Hashed al-Shaabi, the state-sponsored network of fighters dominated by pro-Iran forces.

"But if it doesn't totally leave, we will fight it," Suleiman said.

- Cuts in Afghanistan -

Trump has also pushed hard to pull back US forces from Afghanistan, where they rose to more than 12,000 under his watch to pressure the Taliban and IS.

The number fell to about 8,600 in July following a February accord between Washington and the Taliban, and is expected to be around 4,500 in October.

McKenzie has said they could all be gone by May 2021 if the Taliban and the Afghan government reach a peace agreement.

But Trump's pressure on the Pentagon to more quickly disengage in the Middle East and Afghanistan has strained relations with defense chiefs, concerned about the Taliban, the Islamic State remnants and the Iranians seeking to gain ground with the US departure.

- Focus on voters -

Trump believes pushing ahead could boost his standing among voters fed up with conflicts that began almost two decades ago, after the September 11, 2001 Al Qaeda attacks.

But support for Trump has also been eroded by disdainful remarks he has made toward the military.

Last week the Atlantic magazine reported that in 2018 Trump referred to US Marines buried in a World War I cemetery in France as "losers" and "suckers" for getting killed in action.

The White House has denied the comments, but the reporter cited multiple first-hand sources, and has been backed up by other publications.

Then on Sunday Trump suggested that the Pentagon leadership supports wars to keep defense contractors in business.

"I'm not saying the military is in love with me; the soldiers are," Trump said at the White House.

"The top people in the Pentagon probably aren't, because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy."

Iraq-US relations since 2003
Baghdad (AFP) Sept 9, 2020 - Key dates in relations between Iraq and the United States, which invaded in 2003, before withdrawing in 2011, only to return three years later to battle the Islamic State group.

- Invasion -

On March 20, 2003, the US leads an invasion of Iraq citing claims that Saddam Hussein's regime is harbouring weapons of mass destruction.

On April 9, US troops capture Baghdad, where a large statue of Saddam is symbolically toppled by a US tank amid celebrations by a crowd of Iraqis.

US President George W. Bush announces the end of major combat operations on May 1, but says the war against "terrorism" continues.

On October 2, a US report acknowledges no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq.

On December 13, Saddam is captured near his hometown of Tikrit after nine months on the run. He is hanged three years later.

The broadcast in April 2004 of images of torture and other abuse of Iraqis detained at the US-run Abu Ghraib military prison shocks the world.

Power is transferred to an interim government in June.

- Insurgency, sectarian conflict -

In November 2004, more than 10,000 American and 2,000 Iraqi soldiers attack the overwhelmingly Sunni Arab city of Fallujah, which has become a symbol of resistance to foreign occupation, after the lynching of four Americans in March.

In February 2006, Al-Qaeda-linked Sunni extremists blow up a Shiite shrine in Samarra, sparking a wave of sectarian killings that rages until 2008 and leaves tens of thousands dead.

In January 2007, Bush announces the deployment of 30,000 more troops, bringing the total to 165,000, saying the surge is needed to help Iraq's embattled government restore control.

- US soldiers depart -

In February 2009, new US president Barack Obama, who had deeply opposed the war in Iraq, says most troops will be withdrawn by August 2010.

On December 18, 2011, the last US soldiers leave.

Between 2003 and 2011, more than 100,000 civilians were killed, according to the Iraq Body Count database. The United States has lost nearly 4,500 troops.

- Fighting the jihadists -

In January 2014, jihadists from the Islamic State group, capture Fallujah and parts of nearby Ramadi.

In June, they seize the northern city of Mosul and by the end of 2014 hold one-third of Iraq.

The United States intervenes directly in Iraq for the first time since its forces withdrew in 2011, bombarding jihadist positions which threaten Iraqi Kurdistan and thousands of Christians and Yazidis.

With the help of the US-led coalition, Iraqi forces drive IS from all the country's urban centres and, in December 2017, declare victory against IS.

- Between US and Iran -

Since 2003, US arch-foe Iran, which supports factions of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force that played a key role driving out IS, has strengthened its influence and become a major trading partner with Iraq.

On December 31, 2019, thousands of Iraqis attack the US embassy in Baghdad to protest a deadly bombing against a Hashed faction.

On January 3, 2020, top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and senior Hashed commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis are killed in a US air strike in Baghdad.

Iran responds with missile strikes on bases hosting US soldiers in Iraq.

The Iraqi parliament calls on the government to end the presence of foreign troops in Iraq, where 5,000 American troops are stationed.

In early May, intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhemi, who has links with both Washington and Tehran, is appointed prime minister replacing Adel Abdel Mahdi, who was ousted after street protests left hundreds dead last October.

- US to cut troops -

On August 20, Kadhemi is hosted for the first time by Trump, as daily attacks by pro-Iranian Iraqi factions target American interests in Iraq. Trump says US forces will leave Iraq but gives no timetable or troop levels.

On September 9, General Kenneth McKenzie, the head of the US military's Central Command in the Middle East, says the US footprint in Iraq will be reduced from 5,200 military personnel to just 3,000 in September.

Related Links
Iraq: The first technology war of the 21st century

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Iraq reforms stymied by shadowy groups' wave of attacks
Baghdad (AFP) Sept 9, 2020
War-scarred Iraq hopes to launch reforms and revive its battered economy, but the drive is being derailed by a wave of violence blamed largely on shadowy pro-Iranian groups. Since Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi took office in May, he has promised to rein in rogue militias, fight corruption and roll out long-awaited restructuring after years of war and insurgency. But the closer his government gets to its stated aims, the more armed actors with suspected links to Washington's arch enemy Tehran ... read more