ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s counter-terrorism chief said on Wednesday the end of the US-led global coalition’s mission marks a shift toward full self-reliance, stressing that Iraqi forces are capable of maintaining security without foreign troops.
"Ending the international coalition mission is a transition from the phase of direct field partnership to the phase of complete self-reliance and strengthening confidence in domestic capability,” said head of Iraq's Counter-Terrorism Service Karim al-Tamimi.
In mid-January, Iraqi security forces took full control of Ain al-Asad Air Base after the departure of the remaining advisers from the US-led Global Coalition, marking the end of the coalition’s military presence in federal areas of the country.
Washington and Baghdad had agreed in 2021 to shift their security partnership into an advise-and-assist mission. A timetable was set by the Iraqi government in September 2024, followed by an agreement in November 2025 on the future of their security relationship.
The push accelerated after the US strike in 2020 that killed Iran’s Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) deputy Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis near Baghdad International Airport. Following the strike, 168 lawmakers in Iraq’s 329-seat parliament voted for the expulsion of foreign troops.
Amid the ongoing war with Iran, the US and Israel have carried out multiple attacks against Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and Iraqi pro-Iran armed groups, resulting in dozens of casualties. Since the onset of the war, Iran and its allied Iraqi groups have also launched repeated attacks against alleged US positions in the Kurdistan Region.
In early March, Iraqi authorities said that Baghdad sent a protest letter to the coalition after a suspected coalition operation in Najaf province led to a clash that killed one Iraqi soldier and wounded two others.
Tamimi said no security vacuum will be created due to the withdrawal of the global coalition, and his agency has a "clear strategy" which encompasses building an independent intelligence system, maintaining qualitative field superiority and restructuring international cooperation to bilateral partnerships.
"The Islamic State [ISIS]in Iraq no longer has the capability to control territory or conduct large-scale operations," he said, adding that they mainly rely on hit-and-run tactics.
Formed in 2014, the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS brought together nearly 89 states and international organizations, initially launching operations with airstrikes before expanding to training and advising Iraqi forces.
Regarding the risks of ISIS militants infiltrating from the Syrian border, he said that "some field changes may lead to attempts at infiltration or relocation by some terrorist groups."
Some Iraqi politicians fear that the new authorities in Damascus pose a threat to Iraq's national security, but Baghdad is attempting to rebuild relations with the interim government, dominated by the now-dissolved jihadist Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
"Iraq's borders today are under a multi-level security system that includes intelligence efforts, field surveillance, and field readiness,” he said.