The United States on Tuesday (local time) announced it had completed the withdrawal of its remaining military forces from Iraq, ending a military presence that began with the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein and later evolved into a campaign against the Islamic State.
The final withdrawal was carried out under a 2024 agreement between Washington and Baghdad.
The exit closes a 23-year chapter of involvement in Iraq — one that included the initial invasion, a prolonged counterinsurgency, a full withdrawal in 2011 and a return in 2014 to fight the Islamic State.
The US invaded Iraq in March 2003, overthrowing ‘s government. American combat forces eventually withdrew in December 2011.
That exit lasted less than three years. The US returned to major military operations in Iraq in 2014 after the seized large areas of Iraq and Syria.
The latest withdrawal, therefore, marks the end of the second major phase of US military involvement, rather than a continuous 23-year deployment.
More than one million US service members served in Iraq during the first phase of the war, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
At the height of the , the US deployment was vastly larger than the force that remained in the country in its final years.
During the 2007 “surge”, US troop levels were around 1,70,000, while congressional estimates at the time projected roughly 2,10,000 personnel deployed across Iraq, and related theatres, depending on the scenario, as per Reuters.
The US Department of Defense records 4,419 military deaths under Operation Iraqi Freedom, including 3,482 hostile deaths and 937 non-hostile deaths. It also records 31,993 wounded in action, according to Reuters.
Broader counts of American deaths connected to the Iraq conflict are commonly rounded to about 4,500.
Bown University’s Costs of project estimated that 5,50,000–5,80,000 people were killed in Iraq and Syria between 2003 and 2023, including combatants and civilians, while noting that indirect deaths could make the toll substantially higher.
Brown University’s Costs of War project estimated that the United States had spent about $1.79 trillion on the wars in Iraq and Syria through early 2023. When projected future medical and disability costs for veterans are included, the figure rises to about $2.89 trillion by 2050.
For comparison, a Congressional Budget Office estimate made during the earlier withdrawal process projected $156 billion in direct Iraq-war-related costs between 2009 and 2014 under the then-planned withdrawal timetable.
The US completed its first major withdrawal from Iraq in December 2011, ending the post-invasion military mission.
But the ‘s rapid expansion changed the calculation.
US forces returned to significant combat operations in 2014, helping Iraqi forces push the terror group out of territory it had seized.
After the defeat of the Islamic State, the US subsequently maintained a smaller military and advisory presence.
The military withdrawal comes as Iraq attempts to balance relations with Washington and Tehran.
Iraq has maintained close political and security ties with both the and Iran, while Iran-backed armed groups have developed substantial influence inside the country.
Iraqi security analysts cited by Reuters have warned that the departure could strengthen Tehran-aligned groups and create space for the Islamic State to regroup.
