Officials say US forces on track to complete Iraq pullout by September 30

The US military is on track to pull all of its forces out of Iraq by the end of September, officials say, marking the end of a presence that started with the 2003 invasion against Saddam Hussein.

Washington and Baghdad agreed in 2024 to wind down the much smaller US-led operations against the Islamic State group.

US troops pulled out of bases in most areas of Iraq last year but maintained a presence in the semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region. Bases there have regularly come under attack since the US and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi met today with Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads the US Central Command. Al-Zaidi said in a statement afterward that he had affirmed Sept. 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 confirms that the US expects to complete its pullout by Sept. 30, but declined to say how many troops remain in Iraq or where they would be redeployed.

“The United States, Iraq and coalition partners have achieved tremendous success in defeating ISIS and now the Iraqi security forces, including the Peshmerga and other Iraqi Kurdistan Region security forces, will lead the fight against terrorists in Iraq,” the official says.