US Military Completes Troop Withdrawal from Iraq

The U.S. military announced Wednesday that it has completed the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq, concluding a 12-year mission that aimed to combat the Islamic State group. The final U.S. soldiers departed from the last air base where they were stationed in northern Iraq, as per an agreement between Baghdad and Washington.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell stated that U.S. troops and equipment completed an "orderly departure" from the air base in Irbil, located in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region. He characterized the withdrawal as a reflection of the campaign's success in defeating ISIS as an organized military threat and a transition to an Iraqi-led security effort supported by a more conventional bilateral security relationship.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who presided over the handover ceremony, described the U.S. withdrawal as the commencement of a "new phase, one defined by Iraq’s sovereignty, the strength of its institutions, the readiness of its forces, the unity of its decision-making, and balanced partnerships with its friends."

U.S. troops initially invaded Iraq in 2003 to remove Saddam Hussein. They departed in 2011, but a smaller U.S.-led mission was re-established three years later to counter the Islamic State group after it seized significant territory. With the extremist group reduced to scattered cells, the U.S. and Iraq agreed in 2024 to phase out the mission.

While U.S. troops had already withdrawn from most of Iraq last year, a contingent remained in the northern Kurdish region. Bases in this area have faced attacks since the U.S. and Israel initiated conflict with Iran on February 28, with Iran-backed Iraqi militias also coordinating actions with Yemen's Houthi rebels.

Iraqi officials had initially linked the U.S. withdrawal deadline to the disarmament of non-state armed groups by September 30. However, Prime Minister al-Zaidi recently indicated to The New York Times that the deadline for militia disarmament has been extended to June 2027, after some less influential groups agreed to disarm while more powerful Iran-aligned factions rejected the prospect or set unfeasible conditions.

The withdrawal has elicited mixed reactions. Officials in Iraq's Kurdish region have voiced concerns about the departure, particularly regarding the removal of U.S. air defense systems, noting that the region has experienced over 1,000 drone and ballistic-missile attacks during the recent U.S.-Iran conflict. The Kurdish regional government's Peshmerga Ministry stated that the withdrawal "under these complex regional circumstances, without the provision of a defense system, is a matter of concern."

Conversely, Iran-allied groups in Iraq celebrated the U.S. troop departure. Abu Mujahid al-Assaf, a security official with the Kataib Hezbollah militia, called it "the beginning of full sovereignty" and warned the Iraqi government against pursuing American interests, threatening that "any government that does not work for the benefit of the people will be overthrown by all means."