[News] US military withdraws from Iraq after two decades

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 US military withdraws from Iraq after two decades: Report

Iraqi Kurdish leaders say the US withdrawal will leave their region, long a
CIA and Mossad hub, vulnerable to Iranian attacks

News Desk <https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9>

SEP 28, 2026 -
https://thecradle.co/articles/us-military-withdraws-from-iraq-after-two-decades-report
(Photo credit: Mario Tama/Getti Images)

The US military has completely withdrawn from Iraq, DPA reported
<https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/us-military-completes-withdrawal-iraq-234832035.html>
on 27 September, citing an Iraqi government official.

All US combat troops and logistical support forces have left the country,
the official told the German news agency on Sunday.

The US military has not confirmed the report.

Iraq and the US agreed to withdraw the remaining 2,500 US military
personnel in 2024.

Before the withdrawal, US forces had reduced their presence in Iraq, which
first began with the illegal invasion of the country ordered by former
president George Bush in 2003.

US forces were stationed in Erbil in the Kurdish autonomous region, at a
base near Baghdad Airport, and in the Green Zone, a fortified area of the
capital home to the parliament and US embassy.

During the war on Iran launched by US President Donald Trump on 28
February, Washington's forces carried out attacks against the Popular
Mobilization Units (PMU), which overlaps with Iran-backed armed groups
belonging to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI).

Iraqi resistance groups in turn targeted US forces with drones,
particularly in the Kurdish region in Erbil.

Iran also carried out strikes against Kurdish targets, including training
camps for Iranian Kurdish opposition groups.

In the early days of the war, reports emerged that Iranian Kurds had been
armed and trained by the US and Israel to infiltrate Iran under the cover
of US warplanes.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani told
<https://www.ft.com/content/c4789501-8499-4e7a-adbd-fe63e4db5ef2?syn-25a6b1a6=1>
the *Financial Times* (FT) on Sunday that the US withdrawal comes at a
highly sensitive time. He voiced concern over their leaving the region
without adequate air defense systems.

Over the years, the Iraqi Kurdistan region has served as a covert
operational hub for the CIA and Mossad.

US forces were largely withdrawn from Iraq in 2011. However, they returned
in 2014 under the pretext of fighting ISIS.

The US and its partners from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) covertly
supported ISIS in a bid to divide Iraq and Syria into ethnic enclaves,
create an independent Kurdish state, and allow oil exports to Israel.

The US and KDP, led by Masoud Barzani, helped ISIS capture Mosul
<https://thecradle.co/articles/made-in-america-the-isis-conquest-of-mosul>,
Iraq’s second-largest city, and partner with ISIS to carry out
<https://thecradle.co/articles-id/26107> the genocide of the Yezidi
religious minority.

Amid plans for the current US withdrawal, the Iraqi government issued a
deadline of 30 September for Iraqi resistance groups to disarm and hand
over their weapons to the state.

The move, announced by Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi after coming to
power this spring, was later postponed and is now due to take place in June
next year.
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