File photo of American military forces in Iraq

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has reiterated the Arab country’s position of rejecting the presence of foreign forces on its soil.

The premier made the remarks to Bloomberg on Thursday on the sidelines of his trip to New York, to which he has traveled to attend the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Our official position is clear - there is no need for foreign combat forces in Iraq, he said.

We possess capable security services to maintain order, al-Sudani added.

Last month too, the premier had lauded the sacrifices that had been made by the Iraqi military forces in the fight against terrorism, noting that the presence of foreign troops was no longer needed in the country.

The United States invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003, leaving a trail of destruction, death, and chaos in the Arab country based on Baghdad’s supposed possession of weapons of mass destruction, an allegation that was later proven to be false.

The US and scores of its allies re-launched a military campaign against the country in 2014 under the pretext of fighting the Takfiri terrorist group of Daesh.

The group had emerged in Iraq and neighboring Syria earlier as Washington was running out of excuses to extend its meddling in the West Asia region or enlarge it in scale.

The US military claimed to be ending its combat mission in Iraq in 2021 but said it would retain some 2,500 troops in the country as alleged advisors, although, Baghdad and its allies dealt a decisive defeat to the terror outfit in 2017.