U.S.-led coalition forces are on track to complete their withdrawal from Iraq by the end of September, with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Falih al-Zaidi and U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper reaffirming what Baghdad described as a “full and final” agreement to end the coalition’s military mission.
Al-Zaidi met Cooper in Baghdad on Aug. 12 and confirmed that Sept. 30 remains the fixed deadline for completing the departure of coalition forces, according to a statement from the Iraqi prime minister’s office.
“October 1 will mark a new day in the trajectory of the Iraqi state,” al-Zaidi said, noting that Iraq would then have no foreign military presence on its territory and would be responsible for protecting its own security and stability.
The two sides affirmed the agreement reached during al-Zaidi’s July visit to Washington and said U.S.–Iraqi relations would increasingly shift toward economic development and security cooperation based on shared interests, per the statement from the Iraqi leader’s office.
A U.S. official confirmed that Washington expects to complete its pullout by Sept. 30, but declined to specify where the American troops would be redeployed.
The withdrawal would close the latest chapter of a U.S. military presence in Iraq that began with the 2003 invasion that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
The timetable for the U.S. troop pullout was a key subject during al-Zaidi’s July 14 meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, where the two leaders discussed expanding economic ties as the military relationship winds down.
“On the 30th of September, the U.S. forces will be out of Iraq, while these companies will be inside Iraq,” al-Zaidi said at the meeting with Trump, with his office announcing that American companies such as HKN Energy and Halliburton, as well as General Electric and Chevron, would be engaged in projects in Iraq.
“We have tremendous oil partnerships all of a sudden being formed over the last short period of time,” Trump said, predicting even closer U.S.–Iraqi business ties in the future.
Iraq to Take Over Security Role
Hours after meeting Cooper, al-Zaidi visited Iraq’s Air Defense Command operations center to review preparations for what his office called the “upcoming phase” following the coalition withdrawal.
Al-Zaidi described air defense as the “shield of Iraq’s skies” and said capable Iraqi armed forces were necessary for the country to make political and military decisions independently.
His office highlighted the importance of bolstering Iraq’s military so it can “fully assume responsibility” for national defense.
The briefing included updates on air defense readiness, radar and surveillance capabilities, and weapons systems, his office said.
The Iraqi leader also said Baghdad would not permit its territory or airspace to be used to launch attacks against neighboring countries.
He also tied the end of the foreign military presence to his government’s push to bring weapons under state control, saying that confining arms to government authority was essential to strengthening Iraqi sovereignty and ensuring stability.
Some Iran-linked armed groups in Iraq have long cited the presence of U.S. forces as justification for maintaining their weapons outside formal state structures.
Disarming the Iran-backed militias could be challenging for al-Zaidi, as some of the most powerful groups have said they have no intention of giving up their weapons.
The U.S. military presence in Iraq peaked at more than 170,000 troops during counterinsurgency operations in 2007. The last U.S. combat forces left in December 2011, but American troops returned in 2014 at the Iraqi government’s invitation after the ISIS terrorist group seized large areas of Iraq and neighboring Syria.
After ISIS lost control of the territory it once held, the U.S.-led coalition shifted toward advising, training, and assisting Iraqi forces.
In 2024, Washington and Baghdad agreed on a timetable to wind down the coalition mission and refocus their relationship on economic and development matters.
Deeper US–Iraq Ties
During their meeting in Washington, Trump called al-Zaidi a “fantastic champion” of Iraqi interests who in a short period of time “changed that country so much” for the better.
Trump also highlighted the important role of Iraq in energy production in the region and said American companies would help it boost crude output.
As OPEC’s second-largest producer, Iraq is looking to increase production from about 5.4 million barrels of oil per day to about 7 million barrels per day by 2030, he noted.
Baghdad and Washington have also moved to deepen financial ties.
Al-Zaidi recently welcomed a U.S.–Iraq agreement allowing compliant Iraqi banks to gradually reconnect with international banking networks.
Seven Iraqi banks recently qualified to resume certain cross-border banking relationships in non-dollar currencies, according to al-Zaidi, thereby paving the way for access to dollar transactions once further compliance requirements are met.
Travis Gillmore contributed to this report.
