We don’t need you, Iraq tells UN aid mission

Iraq’s government on Friday told the UN assistance mission set up after the 2003 invasion that it should pull out of Baghdad by the end of 2025 because it was no longer needed. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said Iraq wanted to deepen cooperation with other UN organizations but there was no longer a need for the political work of the UN mission because Iraq had made significant progress toward stability. “Iraq has managed to take important steps in many fields, especially those that fall under the assistance mission’s mandate,” Sudani said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The mission, which has its HQ in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, was set up with a wide mandate to help develop Iraqi institu

Critics worry about Iraq’s stability, given the presence of many heavily armed groups that have battled in the streets.

tions, support political dialogue and elections, and promote human rights.

The mission’s head in Iraq often shuttles between top political, judicial and security officials in work that supporters see as important to preventing and resolving conflicts, but critics have often described as interference.

Iraq’s government has since 2023 moved to end several international missions, including the US-led coalition created in 2014 to fight Daesh and the UN mission to promote accountability for the militant group’s crimes.

Iraqi officials say the country has come a long way from the sectarian bloodletting after the US-led invasion and Daesh’s attempt to establish a caliphate, and that it no longer needs so much international help. But critics worry about stability, given the presence of many heavily armed military-political groups that have battled in the streets.