Washington (CNN) President Joe Biden agreed on Monday to formally conclude the US combat mission in Iraq by the end of the year, another step toward winding down the two prolonged military engagements that began in the years following the September 11 terror attacks. Biden told reporters in the Oval Office alongside Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi that the US mission in Iraq will shift. Our role in Iraq will be ... to be available to continue to train, to assist, to help, and to deal with ISIS -- as it arrives. But we're not going to be, by the end of the year, in a combat mission," the President later said. "We support strengthening Iraq's democracy and we're anxious to make sure the election goes forward in October," Biden added alongside the politically embattled prime minister.

Source: CNN July 26, 2021 16:15 UTC