The U.S. military announced on Wednesday that it has completed the withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq, ending a 12-year mission to fight the Islamic State group. The last U.S. troops left an air base in northern Iraq under a deal between Baghdad and Washington.
The withdrawal, agreed on two years ago, comes against the backdrop of the ongoing war between the United States and Iran that has also sometimes spilled over into Iraq, with Iran-backed militias firing on U.S. troops and the U.S. striking the groups’ strongholds.
In recent years, Washington has appeared to seek to shift its focus from the Middle East toward Asia, but that shift has been inconsistent, with the Pentagon alternating between reducing its Mideast presence and then finding itself engaging in new conflicts — including the ongoing war in Iran.
Unless the troops were withdrawn between Iraqi freedom and whatever they called this then it doesnt count as only 12 years just like Iraq doesn’t count as different wars just to satisfy the 90 days thing.
They were deployed there for 23 years.
Unless, I’m mistaken, the USA finished withdrawal of all troops from Bush’s war in 2011. USA was invited back in 2014 by the internationally recognized Iraqi government while was getting their shit pushed in by ISIS. They are related, but technically separate conflicts.
I am having a hard time finding confirmation of that but it does indeed seem that NATO personal definitely numbered less than 2000 from 2011 to 2014 effectively a complete withdrawal even still.