The United States plans to complete the withdrawal of its military contingent from Iraq by the end of September, ending a twenty-year period of American presence in the Middle Eastern country, according to infohub.kz.
According to Deutsche Welle, the US is set to complete the withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 American troops from Iraq on September 30. The corresponding agreement was reached back in 2024.
"October 1 will become a new day in the history of the Iraqi state, when the country will be free of any foreign military presence and national sovereignty over its territory will be established," said Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi.
The event is planned to be celebrated as Independence Day and will be accompanied by four official public holidays.
The publication notes that the troop withdrawal also marks the end of more than two decades of US military presence in Iraq. After the US invasion in 2003, American troops were withdrawn in 2011, but returned in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group. The withdrawal is also part of a broader US strategy to reduce its presence in the Middle East.
The South China Morning Post writes that not everyone in Iraq supports the final withdrawal of American troops, calling it premature.
"We believe that Iraq is not yet fully ready to take responsibility for ensuring security," said Abdulrahman al-Zobai, a Sunni tribal leader from Fallujah.