U.S. forces slated to leave Iraq by Sept. 30
Reports say U.S. forces are due to leave Iraq by Sept. 30, but the future of bilateral security ties remains unclear.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
U.S. forces were slated to leave Iraq by Sept. 30, a departure expected to end a military presence of more than two decades, according to NPR and an Atlantic Council analysis. The reported timetable would close the anti-ISIS military mission in Iraq, though no current U.S. or Iraqi official statement in the available material confirms the final departure or says what security personnel, if any, would remain.
NPR reported on Sept. 27 that the U.S. military would formally end its Iraq presence that week. The Atlantic Council wrote on Sept. 9 that the final troops were scheduled to withdraw by Sept. 30 as Operation Inherent Resolve came to an official end.
What is Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq?
Operation Inherent Resolve was the coalition mission that advised, assisted and enabled Iraqi and Kurdish partner forces against ISIS in designated areas of Iraq and Syria, the Defense Department said in 2024. The department said Iraq asked for help after ISIS captured large areas of Iraq and Syria, leading to a coalition involving more than 30 countries.
The current drawdown follows a longer U.S. military role in Iraq that began with the 2003 invasion. U.S. troops left in 2011, then returned in 2014 after ISIS occupied major Iraqi territory, according to the Atlantic Council.
The Defense Department said the coalition and its partners drove ISIS from the territory it controlled in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019. It also warned that ISIS remained a threat despite those territorial defeats.
Does the reported departure end U.S.-Iraq security cooperation?
That is not clear from the reporting. A 2024 U.S.-Iraq transition plan distinguished between ending the coalition military mission in Iraq and the wider bilateral relationship between Washington and Baghdad.
Under that plan, the first phase was to end the coalition mission in Iraq and remove coalition forces from locations selected by both countries, with that transition scheduled to run through September 2025. A second phase allowed coalition support for counter-ISIS operations in Syria from Iraq until at least September 2026, depending on conditions and consultations between the two governments.
U.S. officials said at the time that the transition was not a wholesale U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. They said the two countries would discuss an enduring bilateral relationship that could include advising and assisting Iraqi counterterrorism forces, the Joint Operations Command, the air force and Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
The Atlantic Council said the withdrawal would meet a demand from Iraq's government and militias, while arguing that Baghdad still faced difficult efforts to bring armed militias under state authority. The group also said renewed attacks involving the United States and Iran could disrupt the planned departure; that is an assessment, not a confirmed outcome.
The immediate reported development is the scheduled end of the U.S. troop presence. Whether and how a separate U.S.-Iraq security arrangement continues has not been defined in the current material.
This story draws on original reporting from NPR.