KDP lawmaker warns of security vacuum after US-led Coalition withdrawal
Shafaq News– Baghdad
The withdrawal of US forces from Iraq risks creating serious security gaps, Iraqi lawmaker and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) figure Mahma Khalil warned on Sunday, criticizing “government miscalculations” of regional realities.
Speaking to Shafaq News, Khalil argued that while Iraq seeks full sovereignty over its security institutions, a continued Global Coalition presence would have strengthened deterrence and protected fragile gains, stressing, “Successive governments since 2003 failed to capitalize on cooperation with the Coalition to build resilient state institutions, unlike Gulf states that secured strategic security partnerships with Washington.”
Questioning official assertions of readiness, he pointed to shortcomings in air defense, intelligence, and early-warning systems, while cautioning that rising tensions in eastern Syria between Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and government troops could spill over, raise the risk of ISIS prison breaks, and directly threaten Iraq. “Such threats require coordination with the Global Coalition.”
Earlier today, Iraq’s Higher Military Commission confirmed the withdrawal of all Global Coalition advisers from Iraqi bases and command centers, including Ain al-Asad Air Base, which is the second-largest airbase after Balad, and the Joint Operations Command, transferring full control to Iraqi forces. About 2,500 US troops remain in the country, under an agreement reached in August 2025 that sets September 2026 as the deadline for a complete US military withdrawal.
Read more: The US exits Iraq: A withdrawal heralds a sovereign future
