Web Desk: The United States will withdraw its remaining military forces from Iraq by the end of September, concluding a military presence that began with the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and later evolved into operations against the Islamic State group, US and Iraqi officials said.
The announcement came during Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s visit to the White House, where US President Donald Trump said Washington no longer viewed a military deployment in Iraq as necessary.
“We don’t think we need the military there anymore,” Trump said, adding that relations between the two countries had expanded beyond security cooperation to include growing economic and energy ties.
“We’re there to help them. We’re there to protect them if need be. But we don’t think that’s going to be necessary,” he said.
Al-Zaidi said, through an interpreter, that all US forces would leave Iraq by Sept. 30, while American businesses would continue expanding their presence in the country.
“US forces will be out of Iraq, while US companies will be inside Iraq,” he said, underscoring Baghdad’s focus on strengthening commercial and investment partnerships with Washington.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon said the withdrawal aligns with a security agreement reached between Washington and Baghdad in 2024 to conclude the US-led mission against Islamic State militants. It added that many American troops assigned to Iraq when the agreement was signed had already departed.
Over the past several years, the United States has steadily transferred responsibility for countering Islamic State militants to Iraqi security forces, which have received extensive training and support from US and coalition personnel.
At the same time, American forces have reduced their footprint by closing or handing over facilities and consolidating operations at fewer locations across Iraq.
The US military entered Iraq in March 2003 during an invasion aimed at removing Saddam Hussein from power. The campaign, launched under claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, quickly led to the collapse of Hussein’s government. However, the alleged weapons stockpiles were never found.
The American troop presence later expanded to more than 170,000 personnel during the height of counterinsurgency operations in 2007 before gradually declining under a withdrawal plan negotiated during President Barack Obama’s administration. Most combat forces left Iraq by the end of 2011, leaving behind a limited security assistance mission.
However, the rapid rise of the Islamic State group in 2014 prompted the return of US and coalition forces at the request of the Iraqi government. Their mission focused on training, advising and assisting Iraqi forces as they fought to reclaim territory seized by the militant group.
Following the defeat of the Islamic State’s self-declared territorial caliphate, coalition combat operations formally concluded in 2021. Since then, the US military has maintained a reduced contingent primarily tasked with advisory and training roles.
After the 2024 agreement between Baghdad and Washington, troop levels declined further as personnel departed in stages. The remaining military advisers and support staff are now expected to leave by the end of September, bringing the US military mission in Iraq to a close after nearly 23 years.
