Trump Announces Departure of Last US Troops From Iraq, Calls Withdrawal a Victory

US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the last American forces had left Iraq, saying it was time for US troops to return home as the US-led coalition mission against ISIS in Iraq came to an end.

Trump praised Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, describing him as a “wonderful” new leader and saying he had supported him from the beginning. He also highlighted al-Zaidi’s election victory, which he said came unexpectedly and by a wide margin.

Trump said the US presence in Iraq had followed a long period marked, in his description, by poor decisions that drew Washington into what he called a “swamp.” He presented the withdrawal as the conclusion of that chapter.

He said Operation Inherent Resolve had been launched to fight ISIS and continued under successive US administrations before coming to an end in Iraq in 2026 under his presidency.

Trump described the withdrawal as a “victory for the United States and Iraq,” saying the mission for which American forces had been deployed had been accomplished and that ISIS no longer controlled territory as it once did.

He also contrasted the Iraq withdrawal with the US exit from Afghanistan, referring to the American casualties and military equipment left behind there. Trump said the departure from Iraq was conducted in an orderly manner, with troops and equipment leaving through Erbil airbase.

Trump concluded by saying that the US had gone to Iraq to fight ISIS, adding that the group no longer had a “caliphate” and that it was time for America to “come home.”