After 23 years, US to pull out last troops from Iraq by September 30

The United States plans to withdraw its final troops from Iraq by September 30, according to officials from both countries, marking the end of a military presence that started with the 2003 invasion. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi confirmed the September 30 deadline during a meeting with US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper, deeming it the "fixed and final date" for concluding the coalition's military mission against ISIS in Iraq.

A US official confirmed the withdrawal but did not specify the number of troops remaining or their redeployment destinations. The US had already pulled its forces from most Iraqi bases last year, although it retained a presence in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region. Kurdish officials reported that the US personnel and military equipment drawdown in Erbil began approximately three weeks prior.

Both nations agreed in 2024 to wind down the US-led mission against ISIS, which ended its combat operations in 2021, even though around 2,500 US troops stayed behind for training and counterterrorism purposes. The US military footprint in Iraq has undergone multiple phases; around 170,000 American soldiers were stationed there at the peak of counterinsurgency operations in 2007, before the last combat troops departed in 2011.

US forces returned in 2014 at the Iraqi government's request, following ISIS's seizure of vast territories in Iraq and Syria. However, meeting the September 30 deadline for disarming non-state militias appears unlikely, as some of Iraq's most influential Iran-backed militias have refused to relinquish their weapons, and several armed groups have claimed US troop presence as a justification for retaining their arsenals.