The United States has officially concluded its military mission in Iraq, pulling out the last of its troops more than two decades after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and triggered years of insurgency, sectarian violence and regional upheaval. The final withdrawal, confirmed on September 30, 2026, marks the end of an American combat and advisory presence that at its peak numbered roughly 170,000 service members and reshaped the political landscape of the entire Middle East.
According to reporting by NPR's Jane Arraf in Baghdad, the withdrawal unfolded in stages. American forces had already departed from central and southern Iraq in January, leaving approximately 1,500 troops stationed in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north. Those remaining service members have now also left the country, closing out a mission that spanned nearly a quarter of a century.
The invasion, launched in March 2003 by a US-led coalition, was justified at the time by claims that Saddam's regime possessed weapons of mass destruction — allegations that were never substantiated. The campaign quickly toppled the Iraqi government, but the subsequent occupation proved far more costly and complex than its architects anticipated. An insurgency soon took root, drawing in foreign fighters, al-Qaida affiliates and disaffected Iraqi Sunnis, while Shiite militias backed by Iran emerged as another powerful armed force.
That descent into armed conflict produced a civil war that peaked between 2006 and 2008, killed tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians and displaced millions more. The violence also created the conditions for the rise of the Islamic State group, which seized large swaths of Iraqi territory in 2014 and prompted the US to return in force at the head of a new international coalition. The campaign against ISIS, fought alongside Iraqi security forces and Kurdish peshmerga units, eventually reclaimed the territory but left deep scars on the country's infrastructure and social fabric.
Throughout the American presence, Iran steadily expanded its political and military leverage in Iraq. Tehran cultivated ties with Shiite political parties, trained and armed militia networks, and positioned itself as a decisive player in Baghdad's internal affairs. That influence has proven durable. As NPR notes, Iraq continues to struggle against Iranian interference even as the last US boots leave the ground.
The withdrawal has been accompanied by a visible shift in messaging inside Iraq. In Baghdad's Saadoun Square, billboards now carry an Arabic slogan declaring "Reclaiming the decision and building the home" — a phrase that captures a growing push among Iraqis to assert national sovereignty after years of foreign military presence, whether American or Iranian.
Yet the departure of US forces raises difficult questions about what comes next. Without an American military counterweight, Iraqi leaders may find themselves under even greater pressure from Tehran, particularly as paramilitary groups aligned with Iran remain embedded in the country's security architecture and political system. Baghdad will also need to manage the lingering threat from ISIS sleeper cells, which have continued to conduct attacks in remote areas despite the group's territorial defeat.
Regional dynamics add another layer of uncertainty. As the US signals a smaller military footprint across the Middle East, other powers are positioning themselves to fill the vacuum. Turkey, for instance, has indicated it is ready to step up its role in the region, potentially complicating the calculus for both Baghdad and Washington.
For the United States, the withdrawal closes a chapter that began with promises of liberation and democracy and ended with a far more ambiguous legacy. The war cost trillions of dollars, claimed the lives of more than 4,000 American service members and left hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead. It also strained US alliances, fueled anti-American sentiment worldwide and diverted attention and resources from other strategic priorities over two decades.
Iraqi civilians, meanwhile, continue to reckon with the aftermath. Reconstruction has been uneven, public services remain unreliable in many areas, and unemployment among young people is persistently high. The country's political system, built on a power-sharing model devised during the American occupation, has been criticized for corruption and paralysis, making it harder for Baghdad to respond to popular demands for jobs, electricity and security.
The final withdrawal is not the first time American troops have left Iraq. A previous drawdown in 2011 removed most US forces, only for them to return three years later to confront ISIS. Whether history repeats itself — and whether Iraq can stabilize without a significant foreign military presence — remains an open question that will define the next phase of the country's turbulent modern history.
What is clear is that the American era in Iraq, at least in military terms, has drawn to a close. The task of building a sovereign, stable and independent nation now rests squarely with Iraq's own leaders, even as powerful outside forces continue to compete for influence over their country's future.
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