Trump makes moves to take all troops out of Iraq and Syria
The U.S. plans to complete its military withdrawal from Iraq by September 2026, a U.S. official told RS.
The updated timeline, which the source said will likely coincide with a full withdrawal of NATO military advisers from the country, comes less than a week after Iraqi authorities officially took control of the last American base in federal Iraq. The official, citing operational security concerns, declined to disclose how many U.S. soldiers remain stationed at Harir Air Base in the country’s autonomous Kurdish region.
President Barack Obama had initially withdrawn U.S. combat troops in 2011, eight years after American forces invaded and toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. But Obama sent U.S. combat forces back into Iraq in 2014 under Operation Inherent Resolve, with the goal of helping to beat back ISIS.
With ISIS long defeated as a territorial entity, Iraqi officials have spent years publicly demanding a U.S. withdrawal. In 2024, Washington agreed to pull back its forces by the end of 2026, but it remained unclear whether it would stay committed to that timeline.
