US ends Iraq mission as last troops leave amid Kurdish security fears

The last US troops were set to leave Iraq on Wednesday under an agreement between Baghdad and Washington, ending a military mission that had already been scaled down in recent years. The move was welcomed by Iran-backed groups, while some Iraqis, especially in the Kurdish region, said they were worried about the security impact.

US troops invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein and left in 2011. They returned three years later after Iraqi authorities invited a smaller US-led mission to fight the Islamic State group, which had swept across Iraq and captured large areas. With the group now reduced to scattered sleeper cells, Washington and Baghdad agreed in 2024 to wind down the mission.

US forces withdrew from bases in most parts of Iraq last year, but a few hundred troops remained in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north. Those bases have regularly come under attack since the US and Israel launched their war against Iran on February 28. Iran-backed Iraqi militias have also coordinated with Yemen's Houthi rebels to attack Saudi Arabia.

The Iraqi government had initially linked the September 30 deadline for the US withdrawal to the disarmament of non-state armed groups by the same date. While a few less influential militias agreed to hand over their weapons, powerful groups close to Iran rejected the idea or attached conditions that the government was unlikely to accept. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi later softened that position and told The New York Times earlier this month that the deadline for militia disarmament had been pushed to June 2027.

The impact of the US withdrawal may not be immediately visible because the American military presence had already been reduced. Even so, officials in Iraq's Kurdish region have voiced concern, especially over the removal of US air defence systems. The Kurdish regional government's Peshmerga Ministry said the region had faced more than 1,000 drone and ballistic missile attacks during the recent US-Iran conflict. "The departure of the United States from the Kurdistan Region under these complex regional circumstances, without the provision of a defense system, is a matter of concern," the statement said.

Iran-allied groups in Iraq, meanwhile, celebrated the withdrawal. "The expulsion of the occupation forces, defeated, from the land of Iraq is the beginning of full sovereignty," Abu Mujahid al-Assaf, a security official with the powerful Kataib Hezbollah militia, said in a statement. He also warned al-Zaidi and his government against carrying out American plans, saying that "any government that does not work for the benefit of the people will be overthrown by all means". The withdrawal thus closes the US mission in Iraq even as it leaves behind differing reactions over what it means for the country's security and sovereignty.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends