FILE –Iraqi soldiers participate in a training exercise with American trainers at Basmaya base, 40 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. AFP
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the drawdown was being carried out under a security agreement reached with the Iraqi government in September 2024.
“This drawdown reflects the joint success in fighting the Islamic State and the efforts to transition to an enduring security partnership with Iraq,” Parnell said in a statement.
A senior US defence official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said ISIS no longer poses a persistent threat to either the Iraqi government or the United States from inside the country.
“This is a major accomplishment that enables us to transfer greater responsibility to Iraq to lead the country’s security efforts,” the official said.
Shift to Erbil and Syria
Under the new plan, the US and its coalition partners will focus on targeting ISIS remnants in Syria, while relocating most of their personnel to Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
The official confirmed that US forces are already withdrawing from Ain al-Asad air base in Anbar province, which will be handed over to Iraqi security forces. No timeline was given for the full handover.
At the start of 2025, the US maintained about 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of the international coalition form ed in 2014 to fight ISIS, which at its peak controlled large areas of both countries.
Once the current transition is complete, the US troop presence in Iraq will fall to fewer than 2,000, most of them stationed in Erbil.
The official stated that the final number has not yet been determined and provided no deadline for completing the transition.
Iraq's timetable
The Iraqi government has stated that the first phase of the US withdrawal is scheduled to conclude in September 2025, with a second phase to be completed by 2026.
The agreement signed last year allows US forces to remain in the Kurdistan region for an additional year, even after the main withdrawal is finalized.
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