WASHINGTON: US and allied forces are reducing their presence in Iraq, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, winding down a more than decade-long mission there against the militant Islamic State group as planned.

Washington and Baghdad agreed last year that the international coalition against IS — established in 2014 to help local forces retake territory seized by the jihadists in Iraq and neighboring Syria — would end its military mission in Iraq by the end of September 2025.

“This reduction reflects our combined success in fighting ISIS and marks an effort to transition to a lasting US-Iraq security partnership,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement, using an acronym for IS.

“The US government will continue close coordination with the government of Iraq and coalition members to ensure a responsible transition,” Parnell added.

A senior defense official told journalists that “we’re in the process of transitioning,” and that “when all is said and done, there will be less than 2,000 troops in Iraq total, and a majority of them will be in Arbil,” the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.

“US troops simply are not necessary to be in federal Iraq to conduct a counter-ISIS mission. Iraq is eminently capable of doing it themselves,” said the official. The troops in Arbil will be “focused on Syria,” the official added.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2025