US forces exit remaining bases in Iraq, ending two-decade military presence

US forces have begun their final withdrawal from remaining military bases across Iraq, prompting questions about future security arrangements more than two decades after the US invasion.

Trump's administration is implementing the departure, agreed in 2024 under President Joe Biden, despite ongoing regional confrontations involving Washington and Tehran.

More than 4,500 American military personnel died during two decades of invasion in the country.

US forces entered Iraq during the 2003 US-led war and remained for several years of “counter-insurgency operations” before withdrawing at the end of 2011.

Troops returned less than three years later to support Iraqi forces during the campaign to dismantle Daesh between 2014 and 2017.

Casualties in Iraq were roughly double those in Afghanistan, which concluded with a chaotic withdrawal in 2021.

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Source: TRT