The US is expected to withdraw its troops from Iraq by the end of this year, according to John Negroponte, former US ambassador to the United Nations.
Negroponte, who served as the US ambassador to Iraq after the invasion, gave a lecture before the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.
During the speech he denied that the US intends to maintain small units in Iraq to gather intelligence and provide logistical support to Iraqi forces after the withdrawal.
It is unnecessary for the US to keep forces in Iraq, the diplomat said.
He also said Iran‘s nuclear program poses a critical problem for US interests and threatens security in the Middle East.
He asserted that Iran is a country that supports violence and harbors terrorist groups and that the destructive impact of its Intelligence is clear in Lebanon and Palestine.
According to previous US assessments, Iran was on schedule to own a nuclear weapon between 2010 and 2015. But that timeline has now been pushed back, Negroponte said.
He pointed out that the situation in Afghanistan is different from that in Iraq because Afghanistan does not possess oil resources. Moreover, the situation in Afghanistan is more ambiguous and complex because both military and police forces need backing there.
