US cuts troop presence in Iraq as military expresses confidence in Iraqi security forces

The U.S. is drawing down its military forces in Iraq from 5,200 to 3,000, the top commander in the Middle East said Wednesday.

The move is in keeping with President Donald Trump's pledge to cut the number of U.S. military personnel deployed overseas.

"This reduced footprint allows us to continue advising and assisting our Iraqi partners in rooting out the final remnants of ISIS in Iraq and ensuring its enduring defeat," Gen. F. McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, said in a speech in Baghdad.

McKenzie said the decision was taken because the U.S. had "confidence in the Iraqi Security Forces' increased ability to operate independently."

Last month, he signaled that a troop-level adjustment in Iraq might be made amid indications Iraq's military had improved its ability combat Islamic State group fighters.

U.S. forces invaded Iraq in 2003, vowing to destroy Iraq's suspected weapons of mass destruction and end the brutal dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein. No such weapons were ever found, and Saddam was later captured, put on trial and executed by Iraq. U.S. forces withdrew from the country in 2011 but returned in 2014 after Islamic State militants overran large parts of the nation, along with neighboring Syria.

McKenzie said the U.S. troop presence in Iraq would be reduced in September, and Trump is likely to celebrate the withdrawal as progress made toward his 2016 election campaign promise to disentangle Americans from "endless wars" abroad.