BAGHDAD — Iraq has announced the end of the US-led mission in the country, with the last US troops leaving on Wednesday. Qasim al-Araji, the prime minister’s security adviser, called the move an “important milestone,” saying it followed negotiations and understandings that began in July 2021, according to a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency (INA).He said the new phase would involve “bilateral relations with its countries” aimed at consolidating Iraq’s sovereignty.Security and intelligence cooperation, along with the exchange of information and expertise and capacity-building efforts, will continue “on the basis of mutual respect and shared interests,” Araji said.The last US troops were set to leave Iraq on Wednesday under an agreement between Baghdad and Washington, ending a military mission that had already been scaled down in recent years.The move was welcomed by Iran-backed groups, while some Iraqis, especially in the Kurdish region, said they were worried about the security impact.US forces withdrew from bases in most parts of Iraq last year, but a few hundred troops remained in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north. Those bases have regularly come under attack since the US and Israel launched their war against Iran on February 28. US troops invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein and left in 2011. They returned three years later after Iraqi authorities invited a smaller US-led mission to fight the Islamic State group, which had swept across Iraq and captured large areas.With the group now reduced to scattered sleeper cells, Washington and Baghdad agreed in September 2024 to wind down the mission under a timetable extending through the end of September 2026.The coalition was formed in 2014 after ISIS seized large areas of Iraq and Syria to provide Iraqi forces with air, intelligence and training support during operations against the terror group.Iraq announced in December 2017 that it had regained full control of territory seized by ISIS.BAGHDAD — Iraq has announced the end of the US-led mission in the country, with the last US troops leaving on Wednesday. Qasim al-Araji, the prime minister’s security adviser, called the move an “important milestone,” saying it followed negotiations and understandings that began in July 2021, according to a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency (INA).He said the new phase would involve “bilateral relations with its countries” aimed at consolidating Iraq’s sovereignty.Security and intelligence cooperation, along with the exchange of information and expertise and capacity-building efforts, will continue “on the basis of mutual respect and shared interests,” Araji said.The last US troops were set to leave Iraq on Wednesday under an agreement between Baghdad and Washington, ending a military mission that had already been scaled down in recent years.The move was welcomed by Iran-backed groups, while some Iraqis, especially in the Kurdish region, said they were worried about the security impact.US forces withdrew from bases in most parts of Iraq last year, but a few hundred troops remained in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north. Those bases have regularly come under attack since the US and Israel launched their war against Iran on February 28. US troops invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein and left in 2011. They returned three years later after Iraqi authorities invited a smaller US-led mission to fight the Islamic State group, which had swept across Iraq and captured large areas.With the group now reduced to scattered sleeper cells, Washington and Baghdad agreed in September 2024 to wind down the mission under a timetable extending through the end of September 2026.The coalition was formed in 2014 after ISIS seized large areas of Iraq and Syria to provide Iraqi forces with air, intelligence and training support during operations against the terror group.Iraq announced in December 2017 that it had regained full control of territory seized by ISIS.
US ends Iraq mission as last American troops leave
