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US forces are set to leave their last bases in Iraq by Wednesday, marking the end of more than two decades of American military presence in the country
where around 4,500 US service members died. The withdrawal was agreed in 2024 under then-President Joe Biden and is being carried out by President Donald Trump’s administration even as Washington wages war against Iran. The departure is being celebrated by Iran and its allies as a victory, while some Iraqi security officials have warned it could create room for Iran-backed groups and Islamic State to expand their influence.
US Withdrawal Raises Security Concerns In Iraq
American forces invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Sunni Muslim dictator Saddam Hussein. The US then occupied the country, helped install a Shi'ite-led government and fought a years-long counterinsurgency before withdrawing at the end of 2011.
The US returned less than three years later to help Iraqi forces defeat Islamic State in a major war between 2014 and 2017.
In recent years, Iraq has maintained close political and military alliances with both the United States and Iran, while Iraqi territory has sometimes been used as a proxy battlefield.
The US killed senior Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in a 2020 strike at Baghdad Airport. Iran-backed groups repeatedly attacked US bases, sometimes prompting American reprisals.
During this year's war against Iran, seven of the 18 US service members listed as killed were in Iraq. The last US service member killed in Iraq was an Army sergeant who died during the controlled detonation of a drone at a base near Erbil in July.
Iran has described the US departure as a victory for its network of allied armed groups, known as the "axis of resistance." An Iranian parliamentary official said lasting security would prevail in Iraq once American forces leave.
Some Iraqi security officials, however, fear the withdrawal could give Islamic State an opportunity to regroup. Although the group lost its self-proclaimed caliphate nearly a decade ago, it maintains a sleeper-cell network.
Kurdish commander Sirwan Barzani said a lack of US intelligence, logistical support and drones could give Islamic State an opportunity to regroup. Iraqi security forces have also said a suspected Islamic State cell was preparing suicide attacks to coincide with the US-led coalition's pullout.
The withdrawal comes as some Iraqi officials and security figures question whether the country is fully prepared to take over the security role previously supported by US forces.
