The war in Iraq is starting to end, again

An American soldier in Iraq.
(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

U.S. troops are beginning to withdraw from Iraq, The Associated Press reports, now that the Islamic State has lost nearly all its territory and the government of Iraq has declared its war with the terrorist group finished.

If this feels familiar, that's because it is. The war in Iraq, which began in 2003, previously "ended" in 2011 after a four-year withdrawal process. And this time, like last time, the drawdown will not effect a final end to U.S. intervention in Iraq. "Continued coalition presence in Iraq will be conditions-based, proportional to the need and in coordination with the government of Iraq," said coalition spokesman Army Col. Ryan Dillon.

In other words: Don't expect this new "end" to the war to be quick, total, or permanent.

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The U.S. soldiers leaving Iraq are not necessarily coming home, either. Many are being transferred to Afghanistan, AP reports, where the United States' longest war rages on.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.