During a surprise visit to the Iraqi capital on Monday, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced the deployment of 560 more US troops to the country, ahead of what could be a critical battle against the Islamic State (ISIL).
The new influx of soldiers will primarily take up position near the town of Qayyarah, at an airfield recently recaptured by Iraqi security forces. The base is roughly 40 miles south of Mosul—one of the largest cities held by ISIL, when it was captured in 2014.
“These additional US forces will bring unique capabilities to the campaign and provide critical enabler support to Iraqi forces at a key moment in the fight,” Carter said in Baghdad on Monday, according to Politico.
Citing the commander of US forces in Iraq, Army Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, The Washington Post described the Qayyarah airfield as “an important springboard to take back” Mosul.
Although President Obama campaigned on ending the war in Iraq, he will likely exit the White House next year with US troop levels there on an upward trajectory. The administration has been beefing up the presence of fighters in preparation for a march on Mosul, which is still likely a year away.
In April, Secretary Carter revealed the deployment of 217 US soldiers to Iraq to expand the department’s train and advise program. That decision brought the total number of American troops stationed in the country to above 4,000 for the first time since 2011, when President Obama ordered a full withdrawal.
The number of US soldiers in Iraq will climb north of 4,600 following this latest surge. There are also more than one thousand additional pairs of boots on the ground serving on temporary assignment in the war-torn nation.
Meanwhile, in a separate war inherited by the administration, the President decided last week to pump the brakes on troop withdrawals in Afghanistan.
Acknowledging recent gains made by the Taliban, President Obama announced that he would leave 8,400 US soldiers deployed in Afghanistan through the end of his administration.
There are about 10,000 troops currently stationed in the country. The administration scrapped a plan, formulated last year, to drop that number to 5,500 by the end of 2016.
