The U.S. Exit Strategy from Iraq—Plans and Perspectives

Paul C. O’Friel was the leader of the U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) for the Iraqi province of Muthanna before arriving to be the Political-Economic Counselor for the American Embassy in Budapest. In our discussion, we will rely on Mr. O’Friel’s expertise and first-hand experience to discuss the following topics:

• The Surge and increasing security—a summary of developments since 2008
• Providing stability within Iraq—an evaluation of military capability building for the Iraqi Armed and Police Forces
• Lessons learned from the PRT concept in Iraq—main achievements and possible shortcomings
• US drawdown and the next steps of the exit strategy from Iraq
• US–Iraqi shared commitments in the future—a regional context.

The presentation of these topics by Mr. O'Friel will be followed by a free discussion moderated by CEU Nationalism Studies MA student and Hungarian Youth Atlantic Council member Tamás Csiki.