US Completes Withdrawal from Iraq, Ending 12-Year Mission Against ISIS

The US troops leave Iraq era has officially ended. The United States announced on Wednesday that it has completed the withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq, closing out a 12-year military mission to fight the Islamic State group and ending a US military presence that began with the 2003 invasion.

The final American troops and equipment completed an “orderly departure” from Erbil Air Base in northern Iraq, according to U.S. Central Command, formally bringing Operation Inherent Resolve’s military mission in Iraq to an end under a 2024 agreement between Washington and Baghdad.

FAKTA

• What: The US military completed the withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq on 30 September 2026.
• Where: The final departure took place from Erbil Air Base in northern Iraq’s Kurdish region.
• Mission: Operation Inherent Resolve — the 12-year international campaign against the Islamic State (ISIS).
• Deal: The phased pullout was agreed in 2024 by the Biden administration and the Iraqi government and honored by the Trump administration.
• Next phase: The US moves its coalition task-force headquarters to Jordan; operations continue in Syria while Iraq takes over security inside its borders.

A transition to Iraqi-led security

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the completion of the pullout “reflects the success of a 12-year campaign that defeated ISIS as an organized military threat in Iraq and across the region” and marks the “transition from a wartime coalition mission to an Iraqi-led security effort supported by a more normal bilateral security relationship.”

American forces will continue to provide targeted training and intelligence support to Iraqi partners, the Pentagon said, but the primary responsibility for the country’s security now rests with the Government of Iraq.

End of a 23-year era

US troops first invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein and left in 2011 under President Barack Obama. They returned just three years later, in June 2014, after the Islamic State seized large parts of Iraq and Syria, launching Operation Inherent Resolve.

American and coalition personnel began leaving federal Iraq last year, while a smaller presence of hundreds of troops remained at bases in the semiautonomous Kurdish region. The removal of personnel and equipment from Erbil completed the process on 30 September, ending a military chapter that stretched across nearly a quarter of a century.

What comes next for Iraq

The departure leaves Iraq’s government with the daunting task of loosening the grip of Iran-backed militias and containing scattered Islamic State sleeper cells. CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said ISIS no longer poses a systemic threat to Iraq’s national security, and that Iraqi forces, including the Peshmerga, now have the leadership and operational independence to handle the threats.

Iran-backed groups celebrated the exit — one militia, As’hab Al-Kahf, cheered what it called the “humiliating withdrawal of the American occupier” — while officials in Iraq’s Kurdish region expressed concern about losing US military capabilities, including air-defense systems.

Iraq asserts a new sovereignty

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi presided over the handover ceremony and described the US departure as the beginning 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.”

The withdrawal comes against the backdrop of the ongoing war between the United States and Iran, which has at times spilled over into Iraq, with Iran-backed militias firing on US positions and the US striking the groups’ strongholds, according to reporting by the Associated Press.

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Washington says the wider counter-ISIS effort is not ending: the coalition task force is moving its headquarters to Jordan, and American forces across the region remain prepared to respond if ISIS rebuilds.

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