U.S. Central Command (Centcom) announced Wednesday that American forces have departed Iraq, bringing a 12-year military mission to a close.
According to Centcom, all U.S. forces and equipment have left Erbil Air Base in northern Iraq. The move caps a yearlong wind-down of Operation Inherent Resolve and marks a transition “to a U.S.-Iraq bilateral defense relationship.” The effort will continue to operate in Jordan while U.S. forces take on ISIS fighters in Syria.
“Job well done to the tens of thousands of American service members, diplomats, and civilian personnel who answered the call in Iraq,” Centcom commander Adm. Brad Cooper said in a statement.
Cooper credited American personnel with dismantling the terror group’s hold on the country.
“Because of your grit, sacrifice and professionalism, ISIS no longer poses a systemic threat to Iraq’s national security and Iraqi security forces, including the Peshmerga and other Iraqi Kurdistan Region security forces, now possess the capacity, leadership, and operational independence to unilaterally manage threats to their homeland,” he said.
The admiral said the U.S. has turned over full primary responsibility for the country’s security to the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people. Meanwhile, American troops in the region will maintain “vigilance and readiness” while “protecting the U.S. homeland and strengthening regional security,” Cooper said.
The withdrawal stems from a 2024 agreement former President Biden struck with the Iraqi government as Washington sought to pivot its attention from the Middle East toward Asia, The New York Times reported. The Trump administration carried the plan through, even as conflicts in Gaza, Yemen and Iran have kept America’s focus locked on the region.
Not everyone sees the exit the same way.
Iranian-backed groups celebrated the U.S. departure, while Iraqis in the Kurdish region worry that ISIS could make a comeback if the terror group is emboldened by the pullout, The Associated Press reported.
The U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple dictator Saddam Hussein and his regime. Former President George W. Bush led the effort without a formal declaration of war, and the conflict dragged on for years after he left office.
The war sparked protests at home, with Americans accusing the Bush administration of war crimes and of lying about Hussein possessing weapons of mass destruction.
The human toll was staggering. More than 4,500 U.S. service members were killed, and between 186,000 and 210,000 Iraqi civilians died, according to Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs.
Former President Obama pulled troops out in 2011, but U.S. forces returned three years later after ISIS exploited the power vacuum to seize much of Iraq’s territory, despite the country having a new government in place. The Biden agreement came after years of efforts that shrank ISIS’s ranks.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi told the Times he plans to further contain ISIS militias and bring their remaining territories under state control by mid-2027. In a recent interview with the outlet, he said disarming ISIS is not an option but a “necessity.”
“Every Iraqi today wants his country to have complete sovereignty; they want power to be exclusively in the hands of the state,” al-Zaidi said, adding that he wants to put an end to “the law of the jungle.”
