For the Iraqi government in Baghdad, 3>\u2019, 30 September 2026 marks\nthe end of an era. \u201c1 October will be a new day in the journey of the\nIraqi nation, with a country free from the presence of foreign military\nand the realisation of full national sovereignty over its territory,\u201d\nsaid Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in a statement.<\/p>\n
This moment will be celebrated as an \u201cIndependence Day\u201d with four\ndays of official public holidays.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday (30\/09), the United States will complete the withdrawal\nof its final 2,500 troops from Iraqi territory in accordance with the\n2024 agreement. Their departure ends the 12-year US-led \u2018Operation\nInherent Resolve\u2019 mission against the Islamic State (ISIS), which was\nthen attacking Iraq and Syria.<\/p>\n
This withdrawal also marks the end of more than two decades of US\nmilitary involvement in Iraq. Following the 2003 US invasion, US forces\nwithdrew in 2011 and returned in 2014 to combat ISIS. This move is also\npart of a broader US strategy to reduce its military presence in the\nMiddle East.<\/p>\n
However, the US withdrawal does not mean the end of all foreign\nmilitary deployments in Iraq. Turkey still maintains troops in Iraq,\nalthough Ankara stated earlier this week that it would gradually hand\nover a military base in northern Iraq to Baghdad.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2024, Baghdad and Washington agreed on what they called a\nnormalised relationship,\u201d Renad Mansour, deputy director of the Middle\nEast and North Africa programme and director of the Iraq Initiative at\nthe Chatham House think tank in London, told DW. \u201cFor Baghdad, the\npolitical goal now is to make it clear that Iraq wants to remain an ally\nof the US,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to him, Iraqi PM Ali al-Zaidi is concerned that Washington\nmight begin to view Iraq and Iran-backed non-state militias as being too\nclose to Tehran, given that the US and Israel are currently in conflict\nwith Iran.<\/p>\n
Baghdad extends disarmament deadline<\/strong><\/p>\n Initially, Baghdad linked the end of the US military mission to the\ndisarmament of various armed groups and militias in Iraq. The plan also\nincluded bringing these paramilitary groups under state control.<\/p>\n Iraqi PM Ali al-Zaidi said last week that the new deadline is 30 June\n2027. The revised plan includes a 90-day period during which armed\ngroups will not attack in exchange for guarantees that US forces will\nnot target them, followed by a gradual surrender of weapons to be\ncompleted by 30 June 2027.<\/p>\n However, not all armed groups are likely to follow this plan. Several\npowerful armed groups have rejected disarmament or proposed conditions\nthat could delay the process.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most hardline armed groups, Kata\u2019ib Hezbollah, Harakat\nal-Nujaba, and Kata\u2019ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, have so far shown no signs of\nbeing ready to surrender weapons to the state and join the Iraqi armed\nforces,\u201d said Alina L. Romanowski, visiting researcher at the Scowcroft\nMiddle East Security Initiative, an Atlantic Council programme.<\/p>\n Renad Mansour told DW that he was not surprised by this extension.\nIraq\u2019s political landscape has been highly fragmented since the US\ninvasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in April 2003. There have been over\neight years of war, the rise and fall of ISIS, and the US withdrawal in\n2011 and return in 2014.<\/p>\n \u201cMany political movements are linked to armed organisations, so it is\ndifficult to see a revolution in the security sector happening in the\nnear future,\u201d he told DW, predicting that \u201ceven next year, many armed\ngroups will remain free from central government control.\u201d<\/p>\n What does this mean for Iraqi minorities?<\/strong><\/p>\n The US withdrawal also includes the departure of military personnel\nand the removal of US air defence systems in Erbil, the capital of the\nsemi-autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq. Kurdistan PM Masrur\nBarzani has already called for protection from Baghdad against missile\nand drone attacks from Iran. Since the start of the US-Israel-Iran\nconflict in February, attacks by Iraqi pro-Iran armed groups on\nUS-related targets in Erbil have increased, while Iranian attacks on\ninfrastructure belonging to Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in Iraq\nhave also risen.<\/p>\n On Monday (28\/09), Kurdish officials in Erbil stated that three\ndrones targeted a camp affiliated with the Iranian Kurdish opposition.\nLocal officials said the drones were of Iranian manufacture, though\nresponsibility for the attacks has not been independently confirmed.<\/p>\n Yerevan Saeed, a non-resident senior researcher at the Iraq\nInitiative, Atlantic Council, and director of the Global Kurdish\nInitiative for Peace at the American University, is concerned that\nIraq\u2019s vulnerable ethnic and religious minorities, such as Christians\nand Yazidis, as well as Kurdish communities, could be more exposed\nstarting 1 October 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cThis withdrawal marks the end of an era where the foreign military\npresence served as a buffer against threats from both within and the\nregion,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Mansour from Chatham House noted that US-Iraq relations\nwill not end on 30 September, but will instead shift to \u201cother arenas,\nincluding economic relations, rather than a relationship focused on\nsecurity.\u201d<\/p>\n In July, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated, after meeting\nwith Iraqi PM al-Zaidi, that they had discussed how a sovereign, stable,\nand strong Iraq would pave the way for mutually beneficial commercial\nand defence cooperation.<\/p>\n However, in a statement following the meeting, Hegseth added that\n\u201cbuilding a normalised US-Iraq bilateral defence relationship requires a\nsafe environment free from terrorist pressure.\u201d<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/us-troop-withdrawal-from-iraq-leaves-security-questions-1790830950",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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