Coalition forces to complete withdrawal from Iraq by end of September: KRG minister

Sahin Demir

Coalition forces are withdrawing from Iraq, including its Kurdish region, on a daily basis and are expected to complete the pullout by the end of September, Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) Interior Minister Rebar Ahmed Khalid said Thursday.

Speaking on the sidelines of a migration workshop in Erbil, Khalid said the withdrawal had already begun, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).

He stressed that operations to transport coalition personnel out of the country are taking place daily.

Khalid said that maintaining Iraq’s security and stability requires coordination among international and domestic parties as well as cooperation between the federal government in Baghdad and the KRG in Erbil.

He also said there is cooperation and coordination between Iraqi security forces and security authorities in Iraq’s Kurdish region.

The withdrawal comes under an agreement announced by Baghdad and Washington in September 2024 to gradually transition from the US-led coalition’s military mission to bilateral security relations with member countries. The second and final phase of the withdrawal is scheduled to conclude on Sept. 30.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has described the Sept. 30 deadline as final and rejected proposals to keep some coalition forces in the country beyond that date.

German forces completed their military mission in Iraq’s Kurdish region in late August, while sites previously used by German troops at Erbil International Airport were set to be handed over to airport authorities.

The US-led coalition was formed in 2014 to fight ISIS (Daesh) after the group seized large areas of Iraq and neighboring Syria. Iraq declared military victory over the group in December 2017, though its remnants have continued to carry out sporadic attacks.