The United States will uphold the commitments it made during the July 2021 U.S.-Iraq Strategic Dialogue, including that there will be no US forces with a combat role by the end of the year," the Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said on Saturday. This statement was made after US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met on November 20 with Minister Jumah Inad Sadun al-Jaburi, Iraq's Minister of Defense, in Manama, Bahrain, during the annual Manama Dialogue.