Iraq and the United States on Saturday held a first round of talks on the future of American and other foreign troops in the country, with Baghdad expecting discussions to lead to a timeline for reducing their presence. Roughly 2,500 US troops are still deployed in Iraq as part of the anti-Islamic State group international coalition formed in 2014 – the year the extremist militant group overran swathes of Iraq and neighbouring Syria. But after Israel’s war on Gaza began in October, US-led coalition forces in Iraq and Syria have faced frequent attacks by Iran-aligned groups, leading to US retal…