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The US military is on track to pull all of its forces out of Iraq by September 30, officials said on August 12, ending a presence that began with the 2003 invasion, the Associated Press reported. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi met Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of US Central Command, the same day.
Al-Zaidi said in a statement after the meeting that he had affirmed September 30 as the "fixed and final date for ending the military mission of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in Iraq and completing the departure of its forces." A US official confirmed the timeline but declined to say how many troops remain in the country or where they will be redeployed.
Washington and Baghdad agreed in 2024 to wind down the smaller US-led mission against the Islamic State group. American troops pulled out of bases in most areas of Iraq last year but kept a presence in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north. Those bases have come under regular attack since the United States and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28.
The confirmation follows weeks of elevated threat activity across the country. The US Embassy in Baghdad renewed warnings in late July about drone and rocket activity, and Iran-backed militia groups have repeatedly threatened US positions since the war began. Iraq remains under a State Department Level 4 Do Not Travel advisory, and ordered departure status for nonemergency US government personnel is still in effect.
Neither government has described what security assistance, if any, will continue after the deadline. The US official who confirmed the September 30 date gave no detail on a follow-on arrangement, and al-Zaidi's statement referred only to completing the departure of coalition forces. The date now stands as the fixed endpoint for a US military presence in Iraq that has run, in different forms, for more than two decades.
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