The U.S. military is closing its base in Erbil, Iraq, and withdrawing from the country 23 years after the start of the Iraq War.
The United States was airlifting equipment and troops out ahead of the closure of the Erbil base in the Kurdistan Region on the 30th, The Wall Street Journal reported on the 29th, local time.
Some U.S. Marines will remain to protect American diplomatic missions, according to current and former U.S. military officials, along with contractor personnel who maintain U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets and tanks. Patriot air defense batteries stationed around the base have already been moved, and the remaining air defense capability is expected to focus on protecting the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in Erbil.
The withdrawal comes 12 years after U.S. forces were redeployed to Iraq in 2014. The United States invaded Iraq in March 2003, toppling Saddam Hussein's government, and declared an end to major combat operations that May, but the full troop withdrawal was not completed until December 2011. Forces were sent back in as the Sunni extremist group Islamic State gained strength. That history led some to describe the Iraq conflict as an "endless war."
In 2024, under the administration of Joe Biden, the United States reached an agreement with the Iraqi government and formally announced a phased withdrawal plan. The first phase, running from September 2024 to September last year, covered the pullout from major military bases in federally administered areas including Baghdad. The second phase, from September last year to this September, called for the removal of all remaining troops. President Donald Trump, who succeeded Biden, has taken over the withdrawal agreement and is carrying it out.
Despite the change in administration, Trump has also voiced support for the withdrawal. Meeting Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at the White House in July, Trump said he no longer believed U.S. troops were needed there. The Journal noted that the United States is bringing an end to an "endless war" after 23 years and more than $1.7 trillion in costs.
The war with Iran, however, could reshape the landscape of armed groups inside Iraq. Heavily armed Iran-backed militias in the country could expand their influence again, adding to instability. Armed groups and Iranian forces attacked U.S. diplomatic and military facilities in Iraq more than 600 times in the two months from late February, when the war with Iran began, the Journal reported. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has also increased the frequency of security alerts sent to Americans and other individuals. Advanced weapons including small arms, drones and short-range rockets are arriving from Iran at a faster pace.
That has raised concerns within Iraq that the country could see the same kind of turmoil that followed the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the vacuum it left behind.
