Pentagon Confirms Final US Troops Have Left Iraq, Ending 23-Year Military Presence

The Pentagon confirmed on Wednesday that the last remaining American service members deployed to Iraq under the anti-ISIL coalition mission have departed the country, closing out a military presence that spanned more than two decades and multiple phases of conflict.

Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell said the final contingent of US troops, alongside other international coalition personnel and their equipment, carried out an "orderly departure" from Erbil Airbase, located in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. The announcement marks the culmination of a withdrawal process that has unfolded over several years and was formally set in motion by an agreement between former US President Joe Biden and former Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in 2024.

The departure brings to an end a US military footprint that began with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, launched by a US-led coalition under the banner of the so-called Global War on Terror. American force levels in Iraq peaked at roughly 170,000 personnel in 2007, during the height of the surge strategy. Washington pulled its troops out in 2011, only to redeploy them in 2015 as ISIL seized large swaths of territory across Iraq and Syria.

In the years since ISIL's territorial defeat in 2017, the foreign military role in Iraq steadily contracted. The few hundred remaining coalition troops were shifted to an advisory capacity and consolidated at Erbil Airbase at the end of last year, according to the Pentagon. Prior to the final departure, CENTCOM — the US military command responsible for the Middle East — said Erbil hosted approximately 1,500 US and coalition personnel.

Parnell characterized the withdrawal as evidence of a successful campaign, describing it as "the success of a 12-year campaign that defeated ISIS as an organised military threat in Iraq and across the region." He added that the moment represents a shift "from a wartime coalition mission to an Iraqi-led security effort supported by a more normal bilateral security relationship."

US President Donald Trump had first announced a complete troop withdrawal from Iraq in 2020, fulfilling an earlier campaign pledge to wind down what he termed Washington's "endless wars." The final drawdown plan, however, was not formalized until the 2024 agreement between the Biden administration and Iraqi leadership.

Responsibility for Iraq's remaining security challenges now falls squarely on Baghdad, according to Parnell. He said the primary burden for confronting "ISIS remnants and Iran-aligned militias that undermine Iraqi sovereignty and regional stability" rests with the Government of Iraq. Parnell expressed the expectation that Iraqi Security Forces — including the Peshmerga, the Kurdish regional forces — would lead efforts to keep ISIL remnants suppressed, while noting that the Department of War would continue providing targeted training and intelligence support to Iraqi partners.

CENTCOM confirmed that the task force overseeing anti-ISIL operations has been relocated to Jordan, and that hundreds of US troops remain stationed in neighboring Syria. The repositioning signals that Washington intends to retain a regional counterterrorism capability even as its uniformed presence inside Iraq comes to an end.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi welcomed the completion of the withdrawal, framing it as the dawn of a new chapter for the country. His government has hailed the departure as a critical step in reclaiming national sovereignty after decades of war and foreign intervention, and he has urged regional and international powers to invest in Iraq's economy. Al-Zaidi has described the future US-Iraq relationship as one built on more conventional economic and security bilateral ties rather than a wartime coalition framework.

The withdrawal nonetheless opens a precarious new phase for Iraqi security. Iraq has remained relatively stable in recent years despite being surrounded by conflict on its borders — most notably the US-Israeli war with Iran that began in February. The departure of coalition forces removes a longstanding buffer at a moment of considerable regional volatility.

The drawdown also intersects with al-Zaidi's broader effort to disarm powerful militias operating inside Iraq, including several with close ties to Iran, with a stated deadline of June 2027. Many of those armed groups have long cited the US military presence as justification for retaining their weapons and independent chains of command. Experts have warned that al-Zaidi's disarmament push could trigger an internal standoff, and that escalating attacks by Iran-aligned factions on US assets could invite renewed external pressure from Washington.

Kurdish officials have emerged as some of the most vocal critics of the withdrawal. They argue that the absence of US forces leaves the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region exposed both to Iranian strikes and to a potential resurgence of ISIL. Their concerns reflect the unique vulnerability of the northern region, which hosted the final American base and served as a key partner in the anti-ISIL campaign.

Iraqi government forces, for their part, have insisted they possess the capacity to counter security threats, including ISIL, without a US footprint on the ground. That confidence will now be tested directly, as Baghdad assumes full responsibility for a fight that American and coalition forces have led for more than a decade.

ISIL remains territorially defeated but continues to maintain cells across both Iraq and Syria. Iraqi officials have cautioned that the group may attempt to surge operations in the wake of the American departure, seeking to exploit any security gaps left behind. The coming months will determine whether Iraq's security forces can suppress those ambitions on their own — and whether the country's new era of sovereignty proves as stable as its government hopes.