U.S. Forces to Leave Iraq by Sept. 30

PHOTO CAPTION: A U.S. Army soldier sits aboard a CH-47 Chinook in Erbil, Iraq, in October 2025. The remaining U.S. military forces stationed at bases in Iraq are scheduled to complete their withdrawal by Sept. 30, 2026. U.S. Army photo by Capt. Bernard Jenkins Jr. File photo.

The last remaining U.S. military forces stationed at bases in Iraq are preparing to leave the country, closing another chapter in an American military involvement that began with the 2003 invasion.
U.S. forces are scheduled to leave their final bases in Iraq by Sept. 30, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials.
The departure comes 23 years after American troops invaded Iraq and toppled Saddam Hussein.
But the U.S. military presence has not been continuous.
American forces withdrew from Iraq at the end of 2011 after nearly nine years of war. U.S. troops returned less than three years later, in 2014, at the request of the Iraqi government as the Islamic State seized large areas of Iraq and Syria.
The current withdrawal brings that renewed military presence to an end.
At the height of the Iraq War in 2007, more than 170,000 U.S. service members were deployed in the country. By this summer, fewer than 200 American troops remained as the final withdrawal approached.
The drawdown is part of an agreement reached by Washington and Baghdad to transition away from the U.S. led coalition mission against ISIS and toward a bilateral security relationship between the two countries.
The Pentagon previously described the transition as the conclusion of the coalition military mission in Iraq rather than the end of all U.S. security cooperation with the Iraqi government.
American officials have said the United States intends to continue working with Iraqi security forces through a broader defense relationship.
The withdrawal ends one of the longest periods of sustained U.S. military involvement in the Middle East.
More than 4,500 Americans died in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, according to Reuters.
The American presence also changed dramatically over those years.
U.S. forces initially entered Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein, then spent years fighting an insurgency and sectarian violence.
After the 2011 withdrawal, the rapid rise of ISIS brought American troops back into the country.
U.S. and coalition forces then trained, advised and supported Iraqi forces during the campaign that dismantled the Islamic State's territorial caliphate.
In recent years, the remaining American presence focused largely on advising Iraqi and Kurdish forces, supporting counterterrorism operations and preventing an ISIS resurgence.
The withdrawal comes as questions remain about Iraq's security environment.
Some Iraqi and Kurdish security officials have warned that ISIS still maintains sleeper cells and could attempt to exploit gaps created by the departure of U.S. forces.
Iran and Iran aligned armed groups, meanwhile, have publicly welcomed the American withdrawal.
The Iraqi government has said its forces are increasingly capable of handling the country's security while continuing defense cooperation with the United States without permanent foreign bases.
For generations of American service members who deployed to Iraq, the Sept. 30 deadline marks another major milestone in a conflict that shaped more than two decades of U.S. military service.
Some served during the 2003 invasion.
Others deployed during the height of the insurgency.
A later generation returned to fight ISIS.
Now, 23 years after American troops first crossed into Iraq, the remaining U.S. forces stationed at the country's military bases are leaving.
The core timeline is supported by Reuters’ Sept. 29 reporting: forces are leaving the final U.S. bases by Wednesday, U.S. troops withdrew in 2011 and returned in 2014, and roughly 4,500 Americans died during the post-2003 conflict. Reuters The Pentagon has described the longer-term shift as a transition from the coalition mission to an enduring bilateral U.S. Iraq security relationship. Defense.gov Stars and Stripes reported that the U.S. footprint had fallen from more than 170,000 troops at its peak to fewer than 200 as the final withdrawal approached.