U.S. Ends Last ISIS-Fighting Mission in Iraq After 12 Years

The last American troops assigned to fight ISIS in Iraq departed the country Wednesday, ending Operation Inherent Resolve after a 12-year deployment, according to NBC News. The withdrawal closes a mission that dismantled ISIS's self-declared caliphate but leaves open questions about what fills the security gap it leaves behind.

Why did the U.S. end the mission now?

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell called the departure an "orderly departure" marking "the successful conclusion of the military mission that defeated ISIS in Iraq," adding that the 12-year campaign "defeated ISIS as an organized military threat in Iraq and across the region," NBC News reported. President Donald Trump, speaking at the White House Wednesday, said the U.S. came "to fight a caliphate, and there is no longer a caliphate, so we are going home," describing the pullout as a "decisive victory over ISIS." The decision itself traces to a Biden-era timeline, according to NBC News, and was carried out even as regional tensions tied to the broader Iran war continued.

What do Kurdish officials fear?

Kurdish officials in northern Iraq told NBC News they are concerned about the timing, noting the withdrawal proceeded even after Iranian missiles struck Kurdish areas earlier this year during the conflict launched by the United States and Israel. Iran-backed militias operating in Iraq have attacked U.S. personnel, American diplomats, and regional allies including Saudi Arabia, per the same reporting. Those proxies were reported to be celebrating the U.S. departure, raising concern in Kurdish circles that Tehran could move to expand its influence in the resulting space. A related HTT News report from Sept. 30 found that Iraq's push to secure militia disarmament amid the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict had fallen short of its stated goals, underscoring the unresolved militia presence the withdrawal leaves in place.

Has ISIS actually been defeated in Iraq?

The 2014 U.S.-led coalition effort succeeded in dismantling the territorial "caliphate" ISIS once governed across roughly 40% of Iraq and a third of Syria, NBC News reported, territory the group seized amid instability following the earlier U.S. invasion and troop withdrawal. But the outlet's reporting is explicit that ISIS has not been eliminated entirely in Iraq, and separate concerns persist about a possible resurgence by remnants of the group even as the organized military threat has been reduced.

What does the Iraqi government say?

Baghdad welcomed the end of Operation Inherent Resolve, according to NBC News, a position that contrasts with the more cautious reaction from Kurdish officials in the north. That divergence reflects the uneven security exposure across Iraq's regions, with northern areas bearing more direct recent contact with Iranian missile strikes and militia activity than Baghdad has in this phase of the conflict.

What happens next in the region?

No new U.S. force posture in Iraq has been announced beyond the completed withdrawal, based on available reporting. The open variables are whether Iran-aligned militias expand operations in the vacuum, whether ISIS remnants regroup militarily, and whether the broader U.S.-Iran conflict referenced in Wednesday's Pentagon and White House statements continues to shape security conditions on Iraqi territory in the coming weeks.