MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : US to Cut Diplomatic Staff in Baghdad, Erbil: Report / HERE WE GO!
Basnews English 07/04/2019 – 12:00 ERBIL — The United States is planning to reduce the number of its diplomatic personnel stationed in Baghdad and Erbil, a report claimed.Washington is considering a similar plan also in Afghanistan, according to US officials cited by Foreign Policy magazine.The plan is said to be put into action as soon as this and next year.The move is apparently in line with the US efforts to compete Chinese and Russian growing hegemony elsewhere in Africa.
“We are regularly hearing from Africa that we are outnumbered by the Chinese diplomats working on economic or other issues 4 or 5 to 1. We cannot continue to concentrate all that money in Afghanistan and Iraq”, a senior US State Department official told the Foreign Policy. According to a plan that has yet to be approved, between 20 and 30 US diplomats in Iraq may lose their positions this year, and another 30-50 percent of the staff of US diplomatic missions in Baghdad and Erbil may be cut next year, Sputnik reported.