Disarmament by Committee: Reform—or Buying Time in Baghdad?

Iraqi government sources say the Coordination Framework will pitch a “tripartite committee”—including Hadi al-Amiri, Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, and Al-Zaidi—to the U.S., ostensibly to address the weapons of armed factions. The move aims to reassure Washington… and buy time.

Let’s not romanticize this. Iraq hosts roughly 2,500 U.S. troops, while the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) number over 150,000 personnel on paper, many integrated into state payrolls since 2016. “Ending weapons” isn’t a technical file—it’s a sovereignty question.

Why now? Is this a genuine pathway to state monopoly over force—or a calibrated delay while regional tensions simmer from Gaza to the Syrian-Iraqi theater? And what exactly is being offered to Washington: disarmament, redeployment, or rebranding?

From an Axis of Resistance perspective, the risk is strategic dilution:

Does a committee neutralize pressure—or repackage it under U.S. oversight?

If the PMF are part of Iraq’s legal security architecture, who decides their fate—Baghdad or Washington?

The core issue: time bought for whom, and at what cost to sovereignty?

#Iraq #PMF #Sudani #Amiri #USForces #Sovereignty #AxisOfResistance #MiddleEast

#AlMuraqeb