USA30 September, 20262 min read
Trump Hails U.S. Troops’ Iraq Exit as Iraq’s Prime Minister Leads Handover
Final U.S. troops completed withdrawal from Iraq, ending 12-year anti-ISIS mission. Trump hailed the withdrawal as a victory and 'organized' departure.
55 outlets told this the same way.
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Last troops leave Iraq
The United States completed its “orderly withdrawal” of troops from Iraq on Wednesday, ending a 12-year presence prompted by the war against ISIS, U.S. Central Command said.
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said the milestone “reflects the success of a 12-year campaign that defeated ISIS as an organized military threat in Iraq and across the region,” and he added it marked “a transition from a wartime coalition mission to an Iraqi-led security effort.”
President Donald Trump hailed the departure as a “victory” for both countries and described it as “a very expensive excursion into Hell,” after the last U.S. troops left an air base in northern Iraq under a deal between Baghdad and Washington.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi presided over the handover ceremony and described the end of the international mission as the beginning of a “new phase, one defined by Iraq’s sovereignty, the strength of its institutions, the readiness of its forces, the unity of its decision-making,” according to the AP.
Celebrations and warnings
Iran-backed groups celebrated the withdrawal, and Abu Mojtaba al-Yasiri, a commander in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, called it an “historic victory for the Iraqi Islamic resistance groups and honorable Iraqis, and a crushing defeat for the American project.” Baghdad-based political analyst Ahmed Younis said the withdrawal raises “the possibility that Iran’s proxies will feel increasingly empowered in the absence of a Western military presence,” and he warned the groups may try to shape state policies and consolidate their presence within key institutions.
In the Kurdish region, Iraqi security officers and people gathered for celebrations, but the AP said some other Iraqis found the outcome concerning, particularly in the Kurdish region. The AP reported that questions loom around the future of Iraqi militias, which the Baghdad government has sought to disarm “with little success so far,” as the U.S. exit shifts the security landscape.
What comes next
Al Jazeera said Baghdad is marking the occasion with four “Sovereignty Days,” a national holiday from September 30 to October 3, as the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIL (ISIS) expires and a new chapter in Iraqi security begins. Al Jazeera reported that Wednesday’s deadline ended a two-year phased withdrawal process, and it said a joint Iraq-US statement in September 2024 set the first stage to end combat operations inside Iraq by the end of September 2025 at the latest.
Al Jazeera added that the second stage would continue until September 2026 to support operations against ISIL in Syria, according to a mechanism determined by the US-Iraq Higher Military Commission. The AP said the withdrawal comes against the backdrop of the ongoing war between the United States and Iran, with Iran-backed militias firing on U.S. troops and the U.S. striking the groups’ strongholds, while the U.S. said it would continue targeted training and intelligence support to Iraqi partners.