Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

US military withdraws from Iraq after two decades: Report
The Cradle News Desk
30 Sep 2026
🖨️ Print Article
Iraq
(Photo credit: Mario Tama/Getti Images)

Iraqi Kurdish leaders say the US withdrawal will leave their region, long a CIA and Mossad hub, vulnerable to Iranian attacks.

Originally published in The Cradle.

The US military has completely withdrawn from Iraq, DPA reported on 27 September, citing an Iraqi government official.

All US combat troops and logistical support forces have left the country, the official told the German news agency on Sunday. 

The US military has not confirmed the report.

Iraq and the US agreed to withdraw the remaining 2,500 US military personnel in 2024.

Before the withdrawal, US forces had reduced their presence in Iraq, which first began with the illegal invasion of the country ordered by former president George Bush in 2003.

US forces were stationed in Erbil in the Kurdish autonomous region, at a base near Baghdad Airport, and in the Green Zone, a fortified area of the capital home to the parliament and US embassy.

During the war on Iran launched by US President Donald Trump on 28 February, Washington's forces carried out attacks against the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), which overlaps with Iran-backed armed groups belonging to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI).

Iraqi resistance groups in turn targeted US forces with drones, particularly in the Kurdish region in Erbil.

Iran also carried out strikes against Kurdish targets, including training camps for Iranian Kurdish opposition groups.

In the early days of the war, reports emerged that Iranian Kurds had been armed and trained by the US and Israel to infiltrate Iran under the cover of US warplanes.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani told the Financial Times (FT) on Sunday that the US withdrawal comes at a highly sensitive time. He voiced concern over their leaving the region without adequate air defense systems.

Over the years, the Iraqi Kurdistan region has served as a covert operational hub for the CIA and Mossad.

US forces were largely withdrawn from Iraq in 2011. However, they returned in 2014 under the pretext of fighting ISIS.

The US and its partners from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) covertly supported ISIS in a bid to divide Iraq and Syria into ethnic enclaves, create an independent Kurdish state, and allow oil exports to Israel.

The US and KDP, led by Masoud Barzani, helped ISIS capture Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and partner with ISIS to carry out the genocide of the Yezidi religious minority.

Amid plans for the current US withdrawal, the Iraqi government issued a deadline of 30 September for Iraqi resistance groups to disarm and hand over their weapons to the state.

The move, announced by Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi after coming to power this spring, was later postponed and is now due to take place in June next year.

Iraq
military
US Military
Khurds
Kurdistan

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
hand ‘em another $350 billion to fight Communism?
29 July 2026
Two Harlem booksellers say, yellowed, dusty copiesof Marx and Engels’ Communist Manifesto and Engels’ 
Congress members
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Illegal Orders, Liberal Hypocrisy, and Fake Outrage
26 November 2025
Democrats recruit military veterans and former intelligence agency operatives to run for office to prove their pro-war credentials.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Trump Declares War on the U.S.
01 October 2025
Donald Trump has declared war on the “enemy within” and put the military on notice that they will mete out the same treatment domesti
Black Alliance For Peace
End the Colonial Occupation of Washington D.C.: The People Demand Self-Determination and Self-Governance
13 August 2025
Washington, D.C.'s political subjugation exposes America's democratic facade. While claiming to champion self-rule globally, the U.S.
Who Will Hold the US/EU/NATO Accountable For Its Many War Crimes?
Jacqueline Luqman
Who Will Hold the US/EU/NATO Accountable For Its Many War Crimes?
13 April 2022
U.S. presidents and their NATO counterparts have committed war crimes all over the world.
The Many Crimes of Colin Powell
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The Many Crimes of Colin Powell
20 October 2021
Colin Powell's death is an opportunity to question the inclination to respect the Black face in a high place.
Gabbard and Lee Join the War Party
Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
Barbara Lee and Tulsi Gabbard Side with War Party on Sanctions
09 August 2017
The Democrats’ two leading congressional dissidents have finally surrendered, now that the party has “taken the lead in the project of endless war.

More Stories


  • Kit Klarenberg
    Collapsing Empire: US Creates New African Psyops Unit
    11 Aug 2026
    From boots on the ground to battles for the mind, an examination of the Pentagon's new psychological operations unit illustrates Washington's bid to reclaim influence in Africa.
  • Ali Ridha Khan
    The Assassinated Word: Kanafani at 54
    11 Aug 2026
    "54 years after his assassination by the Zionist entity, Ghassan Kanafani’s career, politics, and dedication to the Palestinian Liberation struggle remain instructive for anti-imperialist struggle in…
  • Coalition for the Elimination of Imperialist in Africa
    Declaration Expressing Pan-African Solidarity with the Republic of Cuba
    11 Aug 2026
    "Cuba has remained a shining example of internationalism and holds a special place in the history of people's struggles against imperialism."
  • x
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Report August 7, 2026
    07 Aug 2026
    In this week’s segment we will discuss the recent Democratic Party Senate primary in Michigan, in which the establishment and AIPAC backed candidate went down to defeat, part of a new trend of…
  • x
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Sahrawi Republic's 50-Year Occupation by Morocco
    07 Aug 2026
    Ambassador Malainin Lakhal is Deputy Representative of the Sahrawi Republic to the African Union. He joins us from Algeria to discuss 50 years of occupation by Morocco, which promotes irregular…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us