Last U.S. troops leave Iraq, closing the book on the fight against ISIS there

WASHINGTON — The United States is completing its military exit from Iraq this week, meeting a Sept. 30 deadline agreed with Baghdad and ending the coalition mission against the Islamic State group that began in 2014.

Only a few hundred American service members were still in the country in recent months, most of them advisers who had already been consolidated at an air base in Erbil, in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. As part of the drawdown, the U.S. has also taken out its Patriot and C-RAM air-defense systems.

A new kind of relationship

Officials in both capitals describe the move as a shift from military partnership to economic and diplomatic ties. Analysts say American influence will now run mainly through energy and infrastructure deals, arms sales and finance rather than troops on the ground.

Iraq is marking the withdrawal with several days of national "Sovereignty Day" events. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has promised that the state alone will decide questions of war and peace, and his government has pledged to bring armed groups — including those aligned with Iran — under state control.

Worries in Kurdistan

Not everyone is celebrating. Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani has criticized the timing, saying the region has faced attacks and is losing its air defenses just as tensions with Iran remain high.

Security experts note that Iraq still lacks a strong air-defense network of its own, and some doubt that powerful militias will give up their weapons on schedule. The withdrawal also comes as U.S.–Iran negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz remain stalled.