The impact of U.S. Withdrawal from Iraq on the Arabian Gulf

Abstract

U.S withdrawal from Iraq is considered a major challenge for different and contrastive parties. ‎ However, it is a challenge for the Iraqis themselves to prove their ability to manage their own affairs and maintain internal security, without despotism and new dictatorships which seize the country under the pretext of keeping security and stability. It is also a challenge to local powers which named itself as «resistance to U.S occupation». So, if these conflicts and terrorism continue after the departure of the U.S troops, it is clear and doubtless that it will lead to violence and civil war. It is also a challenge to Iraqi powers which are allied with Iran and Saudi Arabia. So the question will be: can these powers create independence from Tehran or Saudi Arabia especially the American troops, which form an equivalent power for these two powers, have withdrawn, or will it continue handing over Iraqi regions for neighbors, and scuttling the remnants of Iraqi sovereignty and independence? It is also a challenge to Iran itself, which is no doubt, has the ability to control a huge and diverse country as Iraq, and fill the gap that would be after the U.S withdrawal. So if Iran continued its political expansion, it would put itself in a confrontation with Iraqi sectors which were prepared, under the U.S presence, to cooperate with. In addition to that, regional powers, such as Turkey and Arab Gulf countries, do not like Iran to control Iraq and intervene in its affairs. Finally, it is a challenge to the Arab Gulf States, especially the direct neighbors of Iraq because since the war of 2003 those countries use the policy of disclaim from Iraq. They only prefer to watch Americans from afar. They do not wish the experience to fail in order not to be in the same chaos; also they do not wish the experience to succeed in order not to transfer to their countries. Now, after the American withdrawal, it would be absurd to continue in a policy which is purely negative and bad.