{"id":30540,"date":"2026-10-08T21:01:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T18:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/?p=30540"},"modified":"2026-10-08T21:01:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T18:01:49","slug":"us-geopolitical-withdrawals-from-afghanistan-and-iraq-to-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/?p=30540","title":{"rendered":"US Geopolitical Withdrawals: From Afghanistan and Iraq to Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Weapons of mass destruction were never found, nor was any operational collusion proven between Saddam Hussein\u2019s regime in Iraq and Al-Qaeda\u2014claims falsely made by Washington and London to launch the infamous “War on Terror.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, it took 23 years from the moment George W. Bush ordered the US invasion of Iraq for the American military presence in that Middle Eastern nation to finally come to an end, even as their footprint remains deep and visible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process was not chaotic\u2014unlike the events in Afghanistan five years ago, which followed a twenty-year war that had reached a dead end and saw the fundamentalist Taliban consolidate their “Islamic Emirate.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, completed on September 30, was not even the first of its kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They had previously withdrawn in 2011\u2014eight years after the 2003 invasion and the ousting of Saddam Hussein with the aid of the “Coalition of the Willing”\u2014leaving a “scorched earth” in their wake. A destabilized Iraq plunged into a sectarian-ethnic civil war, creating fertile ground for the terrifying rise of the “Islamic State” (ISIS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, in turn, paved the way for the US military’s return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Abu Ghraib prison remaining a symbol of the crimes committed through the horrific torture of Iraqi detainees, the US returned in 2014\u2014this time at the request of an incapacitated Baghdad\u2014leading an international coalition against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was this operation that brought the curtain down, even though ISIS had not been fully eradicated and Washington retained leverage within Iraqi territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iraq and the “Vacuum” Theory<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US withdrawal from Iraq was a planned move, agreed upon during the presidency of Democrat Joe Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was completed during the presidency of Donald Trump\u2014his Republican predecessor and successor in the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, the exact opposite of what occurred in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taken together, these two American military withdrawals mark the close of a complex, dark chapter in the long history of US interventions, even as a new chapter regarding Iran remains wide open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on the one hand, and the ongoing, deadlocked conflict involving Iran on the other, offer a shared lesson\u2014albeit from different perspectives\u2014regarding the limits of what can be achieved through US military power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Taliban are once again in control of Afghanistan, just as they were before the 2001 intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Iran, the theocratic regime has not only avoided overthrow, but hardliners have now gained the upper hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Iraq, the situation is more complex. The leadership in Baghdad, under the premiership of 41-year-old Shiite businessman Ali al-Zaidi, continues to conduct business with the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Iran-backed Shiite militias\u2014whether integrated into the state security apparatus or not\u2014operate as a state within a state and as the “long arm” of Tehran, while using a variety of activities to claim a share of the profit “pie” in this oil-producing nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the Iraqi population\u2014Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds, who have been participating since last Wednesday in the official four-day celebrations for the so-called “National Sovereignty Day”\u2014there is deep concern about what the future holds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Widespread discontent exists regarding endemic corruption, alongside anxiety over surviving jihadist cells and uncertainty about whether Iranian influence will grow further, all while the Middle East descends into chaos and Iraqi territory and airspace are riddled with incursions from all sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US is leaving, the Americans are staying<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Ali al-Zaidi\u2014a Shiite businessman previously unknown to the general public who was unexpectedly elected prime minister last spring\u2014there is no doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baghdad\u2019s “most important strategic partner,” he declared, is America. The sentiment appears to be shared by Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A fantastic guy, a friend of mine,” the US President said of the Iraqi prime minister the other day. “I supported him,” he emphasized, adding, “I hope he will be able to handle things very well.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The geopolitical stakes are already on the table. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, Iraq\u2014whose revenues derive primarily from exports of its “black gold”\u2014has recently found an alternative outlet to the Mediterranean via the Syria of transitional president and former jihadist Ahmed al-Sara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creating a new energy corridor for the time being, Iraq is transporting oil by tanker truck to Syrian ports for export.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many return to Iran loaded with gasoline. It is a temporary solution, pending the two countries’ implementation of the recently signed agreement to reconstruct the long-dormant Iraq-Syria oil pipeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It stretches from the oil-rich Kirkuk region in Kurdish northern Iraq to the Mediterranean port of Baniyas in northwestern Syria. Iraq’s state news agency reported that the US energy giant Chevron has undertaken the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A “US-led international consortium” will “carry out the technical and financial aspects,” the State Department announced. This is just one of dozens of deals\u2014involving both public and private sector entities\u2014that al-Zaidi signed last July during his visit to the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their total value exceeds $60 billion. To avoid any unpleasant surprises for Washington, revenue from Iraqi oil sales is managed through an account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.<\/p>\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A complex power dynamic<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five years after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, relations with the Taliban remain extremely tense, with no official diplomatic recognition from Washington\u2014or the West more broadly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Washington keeping a significant portion of the Afghan Central Bank\u2019s foreign exchange reserves frozen, the Taliban have recently attempted a counter-move, adopting a transactional approach reminiscent of Trump\u2019s style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They have called on the US to reopen its embassy in Kabul, offering investment opportunities in the country\u2019s vast mineral wealth and infrastructure in exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the situation in Iraq has begun to resemble post-Maduro Venezuela\u2014a country the US treats effectively as a protectorate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversely, after seven months of a stalemated war, Iran appears to hold a strategic advantage over the US, at least for the time being. By intensifying pressure on the global energy market, the situation increases the political cost of the conflict for Donald Trump and the Republican Party, as the economic repercussions are being felt ever more acutely by American households\u2014just one month before the critical midterm elections on November 3rd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his statements, the US President uses this date as a benchmark for future developments, keeping all options open: from transactional negotiations with Iran to an escalation of the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the interim, Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s political survival will be decided at the polls in Israel on October 27th, even as a new regional order takes shape in the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many players involved, and the outcome remains uncertain. The only constant is the conflict involving Iran, which is putting American power to the test.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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