US troop departure puts Iraq’s security capacity in focus
Al Jazeera reports that the last remaining US troops have left, closing a military presence that began with the 2003 invasion.
The last remaining US troops have left Iraq, ending more than two decades of US military presence, Al Jazeera reported on 29 September. The report provides no details about when or where the departure took place.
US forces entered Iraq in 2003 to depose Saddam Hussein. The country later faced successive crises and cycles of violence that weakened it.
The US role in what followed remains contested. Al Jazeera’s report notes arguments that US forces helped prevent the state’s collapse, alongside accusations that the intervention contributed to subsequent chaos.
The departure shifts attention to how the Iraqi government will manage future security challenges without US troops. The report poses the question of whether it is equipped to do so but offers no conclusion.
The programme features Ahmed Rushdi of the House of Iraqi Expertise Foundation, Kenneth Katzman of The Soufan Center and Kuwait University political science professor Abdullah Alshayji. It raises who might benefit from the US withdrawal but does not establish an answer.
