More than two decades after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, the US military has completed its withdrawal from Iraq, closing out a mission that at its peak involved over 170,000 troops and cost roughly 4,500 American lives.
The Final Pullout
The US military confirmed Wednesday that its withdrawal is complete, ending the 12-year mission built around defeating the Islamic State group. US troops had already pulled out of bases across most of Iraq over the past year, but retained a small presence of several hundred troops in the semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region until the final deadline.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi attended a ceremony marking the end of the international coalition's mission, saying in a speech that Iraq is "reaping the rewards of immense sacrifices and years of heroic effort." Iraq's government had insisted on the September 30 deadline being final, with a statement from the prime minister's office declaring that October 1 "will mark a new day," with Iraq "free of any foreign military presence."
A Deal Years in the Making
The withdrawal follows a framework agreed between Washington and Baghdad in 2024, negotiated under the Biden administration and continued by the Trump administration. It set a two-phase transition: coalition operations wound down through September 2025, with the remaining US presence in Iraq's Kurdish region continuing until this final deadline.
An Iraqi official told The National that the specific September 30 date was actually pushed by al-Zaidi himself during a July visit to Washington, rather than set by the Americans. The reasoning behind the timing reflects Iraq's political calculation as much as any US military schedule.
Two Decades in Numbers
The scale of the American commitment to Iraq was staggering. US forces peaked at more than 170,000 troops during counterinsurgency operations in 2007. Roughly 4,500 American service members died over the course of the conflict, according to Pentagon and Associated Press tallies compiled since the 2003 invasion. The war has also had a devastating human cost for Iraqis, with estimates of total deaths, including indirect deaths from the conflict's destruction of infrastructure and healthcare, running into the hundreds of thousands.
Iran-Backed Factions Celebrate
Iran-allied armed groups in Iraq have openly celebrated the American departure as a victory. These Iran-backed factions have long called for a full US withdrawal, and their framing of the moment stands in sharp contrast to warnings coming from elsewhere within Iraq's own security establishment.
The disarmament of these same non-state armed groups had originally been tied to the withdrawal deadline by Iraq's government, but that link has largely unraveled. While a handful of smaller militias agreed to hand over weapons, the most powerful Iran-aligned groups rejected the idea outright or set conditions the government is unlikely to meet.
Warnings of an ISIS Resurgence
Not everyone in Iraq is celebrating. Iraqi officials, particularly in the Kurdish region, have expressed real anxiety about what comes next. "Everyone is anxious as to what will happen after the September 30 deadline," one Iraqi official told The National, noting differences between how Baghdad and the Kurdish regional capital of Erbil view the departure even as both sides say they want to prevent an ISIS resurgence.
The concern isn't abstract. Bases in the Kurdish region have come under regular attack since the US and Israel launched their war against Iran on February 28, and Iran-backed Iraqi militias have reportedly coordinated with Yemen's Houthi rebels to strike Saudi Arabia, underscoring how tangled Iraq's security situation remains even as the formal US mission ends.
What Comes Next
A US official told the Associated Press that the United States, Iraq, and coalition partners have "achieved tremendous success in defeating ISIS," and that Iraqi security forces, including the Peshmerga and other Kurdistan Region forces, will now lead the fight against remaining terrorist threats on their own. Whether that handover holds, particularly with Iran-backed militias refusing to disarm and ISIS cells still active in scattered pockets, is likely to be the defining test of Iraq's post-American chapter.
This is a developing story marking a major historical turning point. Security conditions in Iraq following the withdrawal, and the fate of disarmament efforts targeting Iran-backed militias, remain unresolved.