The UN Security Council voted unanimously today to end the UN political mission in Iraq established in 2003 after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
The mission was established to coordinate post-conflict humanitarian activities and reconstruction, and to assist in the restoration of representative government in the country.
The Iraqi government asked the Security Council in a letter dated May 8 to close the mission by the end of 2025, and this resolution does so. The resolution extends the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) for a final 19 months until December 31, 2025, when its work will cease completely.
The US-sponsored resolution asks UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to prepare a plan for the transition period and closure of the mission in consultation with the Iraqi government by December 31 of this year so that UNAMI can begin transferring its tasks and withdraws personnel and assets.
The Security Council said it supports Iraq's continued efforts toward stabilization, including its fight against the Islamic State group and Al Qaeda extremists and their affiliates.
In 2014, the Islamic State declared a caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria and attracted tens of thousands of supporters from around the world. Extremists were defeated by a US-led military coalition in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, but cells of that organization still exist in both countries.
The Security Council's decision comes at a time when Iraq is also seeking to shut down the military coalition formed to fight the Islamic State. About 2.500 American troops are stationed in various places in the country, mostly in military facilities in Baghdad and in the north. The Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, believes that the Iraqi security forces are capable of dealing with the remaining cells of the Islamic State in the country and that the presence of the coalition is no longer needed.
Deputy US Ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, welcomed the unanimous adoption of the resolution and plans for an orderly closure of the mission.
"We all see that Iraq has changed dramatically in recent years and that it was necessary to refocus UNAMI's mission as part of our commitment to support a secure, stable and sovereign Iraq," he told the Security Council.
Deputy Russian Ambassador to the UN, Anna Evstigneva, pointed out that it was important for Moscow when it voted for the resolution that the US took into account the priorities that Iraq wanted UNAMI to focus on in its last months of work.
"We are convinced that in the 20 years since UNAMI was established, it has fully realized its potential to help restore Iraqi statehood and that the people of Iraq are now ready to take full responsibility for the country's political future. We express our full support for Iraq's sovereignty and oppose any interference into the country's internal affairs. It is imperative," she said.
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