US troops exit Iraq after 12 years as Iran war reshapes regional security

WASHINGTON — The US military is preparing to announce the completion of the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq after more than a decade propping up Baghdad’s forces in a shared fight against the Islamic State jihadist group.

The last remaining American troops are scheduled to be out of Iraq by Wednesday. Their departure concludes a long mission of continuous presence advising, assisting and training Iraqi forces to sustain the war to destroy and contain the Sunni jihadist terror movement.

The few hundred remaining US troops began withdrawing from federally administered regions of Iraq late last year in accordance with a Sept. 30 deadline that was initially negotiated between Washington and Baghdad during the Biden administration.

The withdrawal was temporarily postponed at the request of previous Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, but the drawdown resumed after talks between the Trump administration and Iraq’s new government under current Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi.