U.S. Ends Iraq Mission as Kurdish Security Concerns Persist

The U.S. military said its last forces had left Erbil Air Base on Wednesday, marking the end of the U.S.-led mission in Iraq, while Kurdish officials voiced concern about security without American air-defense systems. Iraqi and U.S. officials also marked the mission’s conclusion at a ceremony in Baghdad. The departure followed a 2024 agreement between Baghdad and Washington to wind down the mission, which had been renewed in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group. U.S. forces had already withdrawn from most of Iraq, leaving a smaller contingent in the semiautonomous Kurdistan Region. Reports differ on the size of that final presence, describing it as hundreds of troops or about 1,500 service members. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi presented the end of the mission as a step toward national sovereignty. His government had initially linked the September 30 withdrawal deadline to disarming nonstate armed groups, but al-Zaidi later said that deadline had been moved to June 2027. Some Iran-aligned groups celebrated the U.S. departure, while powerful militias have rejected disarmament or set conditions for it.