Pentagon says US troop withdrawal from Iraq is complete
The Pentagon has said the final United States and coalition troops deployed to Iraq for the anti-ISIL mission have left the country. The departure was described as an orderly exit from Erbil Airbase in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. The announcement marks the end of a long withdrawal process and a further step in Iraq's security transition.
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Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell said the remaining US troops, other international coalition forces and equipment had all departed from Erbil. He said the move represented the success of a 12-year campaign that defeated ISIL as an organised military threat in Iraq and across the region. Parnell also said the withdrawal marked a shift from a wartime coalition mission to an Iraqi-led security effort supported by a more normal bilateral security relationship.
The withdrawal closes a chapter that began with the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq and later changed again when US forces redeployed in 2015 amid the rise of ISIL in Iraq and Syria. The source material says the US troop presence reached about 170,000 personnel in 2007, before a withdrawal in 2011 and a later return. It also says the remaining foreign troops had been consolidated in Erbil at the end of last year after shifting to an advisory role following ISIL's territorial defeat in 2017.
The development matters because it places primary responsibility for Iraq's remaining security challenges on the Iraqi government and its forces. Parnell said that includes dealing with ISIL remnants and Iran-aligned militias that he said undermine Iraqi sovereignty and regional stability. He said the Iraqi Security Forces, including the Peshmerga and other forces in the Kurdistan Region, are expected to lead the continuing effort to secure the country and keep ISIL remnants suppressed.
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The withdrawal plan was agreed in 2024 by former US President Joe Biden and former Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, according to the statement. The source material also says former US President Donald Trump announced a complete troop withdrawal in 2020 as part of his pledge to end what he called endless wars. Iraq's government has previously described the drawdown as an important step in reclaiming sovereignty after two decades of war and foreign intervention.
What remains unclear from the available information is the exact size of the final contingent and whether any coalition personnel remain in a separate capacity outside the anti-ISIL mission. It is also not clear how quickly the bilateral security relationship will be formalised after the withdrawal. The next developments to watch are Iraq's handling of ISIL remnants, the role of Kurdish forces in the north, and any response from regional armed groups.
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