US troops set to end decades-long military presence in Iraq
Hundreds of remaining US troops are expected to leave northern Iraq by September 30 as Baghdad faces parallel militia disarmament challenge
BAGHDAD, Iraq (MNTV) — The United States is preparing to end its decades-long military presence in Iraq, with the remaining hundreds of US troops expected to leave the country by September 30 as Baghdad also confronts demands to bring armed groups under state control.
Iraqi and international sources reported that the US withdrawal is already underway, with American forces having left bases across most of Iraq last year while maintaining a presence in the country’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
The looming withdrawal coincides with an Iraqi government effort to address the status of non-state armed groups.
Baghdad has linked the departure of US forces to an expectation that militias will surrender their weapons, although many of the most powerful factions have indicated they will not comply by the September deadline.
The US military first entered Iraq in 2003 during the invasion that toppled President Saddam Hussein.
American troops withdrew in 2011, but returned several years later after Iraqi authorities requested international assistance against the Islamic State group, which had captured extensive territory across the country.
The US-led mission was later reduced as Islamic State lost most of the territory it once controlled. Washington and Baghdad agreed in 2024 to gradually conclude the coalition’s military mission in Iraq.
The planned withdrawal comes amid heightened regional tensions. Iraqi armed groups have carried out attacks against US-linked targets since the United States and Israel launched attacks against Iran on February 28, according to the report.
Some Iraqi militias have also coordinated with Yemen’s Houthis in attacks targeting Saudi Arabia, while Washington remains concerned that armed factions could continue conducting attacks after US forces leave.
Iraqi authorities are simultaneously seeking to bring armed factions more firmly under the authority of the country’s military.
Many of these groups are formally incorporated into the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella organization that is part of Iraq’s armed forces, although individual factions have retained significant independence.
Several smaller militias have indicated a willingness to surrender their weapons. More powerful factions, including Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, have rejected disarmament or attached conditions that could make an immediate agreement difficult.
Among their demands are placing Kurdish Peshmerga forces under central government military authority and removing Iranian Kurdish opposition groups and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party from northern Iraq.
The approaching deadlines therefore leave Iraq facing two interconnected challenges: completing the US military withdrawal while determining how the government will regulate powerful armed factions operating within or alongside the state security structure.
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