Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said on Saturday that the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition combat forces from Iraq confirms the ability of the Iraqi forces to maintain security and stability in the country.

"In a few days, we will witness the withdrawal of all combat forces of the international coalition from Iraq according to the strategic agreement with the American side," al-Kadhimi said in a televised speech during a ceremony on the occasion of the centenary of the founding of the modern Iraqi state in 1921.

"Their (remaining forces) role will be in the advisory areas, indicating the ability of the Iraqi forces to preserve the security of Iraq, the stability of its people," al-Kadhimi added.

Iraqi National Security Adviser Qasim al-Araji on Thursday announced the end of the combat mission in Iraq and the withdrawal of the U.S.-led coalition forces from the country.

Iraq's parliament on January 5, 2020, passed a resolution requiring the government to end the presence of foreign forces in the country.

In July this year, the United States and Iraq held a session of strategic dialogue, during which the two countries agreed on withdrawing all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by December 31.

The U.S.-led coalition began its mission in 2014 to defeat Islamic State after the militants took over vast areas of Iraq and neighboring Syria.

Since the group's military defeat in 2017, Islamic State fighters have been unable to hold territory but are waging a continued low-level insurgency that regularly kills Iraqi soldiers and civilians in remote mountains and desert areas.

The U.S. has kept around 2,500 troops in Iraq since 2020.

(With input from Xinhua, Reuters)

(Cover: A U.S. Army C-47 Chinook helicopter flies over the village of Oreij, Mosul, Iraq, February 22, 2017. /CFP)