The last U.S. troops have left Iraq, formally ending the 12-year mission against ISIS.
U.S. and coalition forces finished leaving on Wednesday, Sept. 30, the deadline agreed with Baghdad in 2024. The exit ends a presence of about 2,500 U.S. troops; about 100 UK personnel left Erbil alongside them.
Trump called it “a decisive victory over ISIS, which has been completely decimated.” The UN's July count put ISIS at low hundreds of fighters in Iraq and up to 3,000 in Syria. The Pentagon made a narrower claim: the “ISIS remnants and Iran-aligned militias that undermine Iraqi sovereignty” are now Baghdad's job.
October 1, 2026 · Seven stories, illustrated
“Will impose a serious threat on the Kurdistan region.”Osman Kamusashi, an Erbil resident, to PBS
Iran and its allies celebrated. Iraqi analysts and Kurds warned of an Islamic State comeback and of more Iranian influence as the U.S.-Iran war spreads.
- 1
2003 to Dec. 18, 2011. The first presence. The reporting dates its start only to the year, so 2003 is shaded rather than given an edge. About 4,500 U.S. troops have died in Iraq since 2003, most of them before 2011.
- 2
30 months out. All U.S. forces had left by Dec. 18, 2011; advisers were back against ISIS in June 2014.
- 3
June 2014 to Sept. 30, 2026. Operation Inherent Resolve, 12 years. The thin mark is Dec. 9, 2021, when the combat mission ended and about 2,500 U.S. troops stayed on as trainers and advisers.
- 4
From Oct. 1. Training and intelligence support continue. No source has said how many Americans that leaves in the country, so this stretch is outlined, not filled.
The line shows whether U.S. forces were in Iraq, not how many. Months are drawn from the day the reporting gives; the return is dated only to June 2014, so it is drawn from that month's first day.
- Headquarters
The counter-ISIS task force headquarters moved to Jordan, not home (Al Arabiya).
- Air defense
The Patriot battery that covered Erbil also went to Jordan; no air-defense system was handed to Iraq.
- The region
U.S. troops across the Middle East still number above 50,000, about 10,000 more than the usual 40,000.
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Inflation came in cooler than forecast in August, and traders cut the odds of another Fed hike in October.
The Fed's preferred gauge, the PCE price index, rose 3.4% over the year, figures released Wednesday, Sept. 30 showed. Economists had expected 3.7%. The Fed raised rates in September for the first time since 2023.
PCE inflation over the 12 months to August. Economists had expected 3.7%, July's level.
- Core PCE
- 3.0% prices minus food and energy, down from 3.3% in July and still a full point above the Fed's 2% goal
- Odds of an October hike
- about 35% in futures markets, from about 45% before the release (LSEG, via The Guardian)
- Saving rate
- 4.1% from a revised 4.6% in July, its lowest since November 2022, while real disposable income was flat
- Spending
- +0.6% after inflation in August, the biggest monthly gain since March 2025 (Bloomberg). The Washington Post puts it at 0.9%.
Justin Wolfers wrote that futures markets think the chance of a pre-election hike has “fallen sharply, although it remains a very real possibility.” The 10-year Treasury yield, which mortgage rates tend to follow, held at 5.246% on Sept. 30, a day after its highest level since June 2007.
What the Fed did in the two months before past midterms- 2018
Hiked a quarter point on Sept. 26, about six weeks before the vote
- 2022
Hiked three-quarters of a point on Nov. 2, six days before the vote
- 1994
Held through the fall, then hiked three-quarters of a point a week after the vote
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Hegseth confirmed a 20% cut in general and admiral posts and called reporting on depleted munitions “treason.”
In his second “State of the Force” speech, on Wednesday, Sept. 30, the defense secretary said the cut removes positions, not people: some jobs drop to colonel or Navy captain rank, and the services must finish by Jan. 1, 2027.
By Hegseth's own count it is two rounds stacked: 10% ordered in May 2025 and another 10% now. The latest tally puts active-duty generals and admirals at more than 800. CBS News counts at least 20 generals, admirals and civilian military leaders fired or resigned under him.
“A national betrayal. It's treason, actually.”Hegseth, on reporting about depleted munitions stockpiles
- Prewar stock
- Fired
- Range of the estimate
CSIS estimates, from April 2026 for Patriots and May 2026 for Tomahawks. “More than 1,000” is a floor, so the Tomahawk bar stops at 1,000 and the true figure is higher.
He also announced an Autonomous Warfare Command for drones and robot weapons, led by a four-star officer, with a target date of Oct. 1, 2027, and named Project Meridian, a 120-day study of future war led by Elon Musk, Anduril founder Palmer Luckey and Newt Gingrich. Musk's SpaceX and Luckey's Anduril both sell to the Pentagon.
The Fed's watchdog found no crime or misconduct by Powell in the headquarters renovation. Trump says he should resign or be sued.
The Fed's inspector general reported on Wednesday, Sept. 30 that construction costs more than doubled and faulted Fed management, not the former chair. Two plumbing-and-wiring contracts more than tripled; the marble critics attacked did not materially contribute.
The report says the marble, water features and garden terrace that critics in Congress attacked “did not materially contribute” to the increases.
“If he doesn't resign, he should be sued, at the highest level, by the United States Government, for either corruption or incompetence.”Trump, who asked Attorney General Todd Blanche to “study” the report
No lawsuit has been filed, and no legal theory for one has been published. The Justice Department closed its own criminal probe of Powell in April 2026, after Judge James Boasberg found “essentially zero evidence” of a crime. Powell keeps his governor seat through Jan. 31, 2028; in Trump v. Cook, decided June 29, the Supreme Court held that a governor can be removed only for cause, after notice and a hearing.
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Federal Medicaid stops paying for refugees, asylees and other legal immigrants without green cards today.
From Thursday, Oct. 1, the 2025 Republican tax-and-spending law cuts off trafficking victims and Afghan interpreters too. Green-card holders keep coverage. Nine states and DC count more than 281,000 people losing it.
- Florida nearly 177,000
- Arizona nearly 28,000
- New Jersey 15,000-25,000; the outlined dots are the top of that range
- Six other states and DC the rest of the more than 281,000
The states count people losing Medicaid. The Congressional Budget Office projected 100,000 more uninsured immigrants by 2034, people left with no insurance at all. States have until Jan. 4, 2027 to actually end current enrollees' coverage.
Emergency Medicaid still pays for emergency care. States must give at least 10 days' notice and a fair hearing before ending anyone's coverage, and until Jan. 4, 2027 keeping current enrollees costs state dollars only.
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Four Senate committee leaders released a 400-page bipartisan bill to speed energy permits, with no vote until after the midterms.
Shelley Moore Capito, Mike Lee, Martin Heinrich and Sheldon Whitehouse negotiated it for more than a year. It would stop any administration from blocking permits for an energy source it dislikes, from wind to coal, and make data centers pay for the grid upgrades they need.
The two-year and one-year deadlines have been law since the 2023 debt-limit deal; what's new in this bill is enforcing them. Opponents would get 150 days to sue under the main environmental laws.
It needs 60 Senate votes, so at least seven Democrats must vote yes, in a lame-duck session after Nov. 3. Whitehouse calls one question “unresolved”: how the Trump administration will handle wind and solar permits. The bill dies if it has not passed by Jan. 3, 2027, when the new Congress is sworn in. Two broad permitting bills have failed in the last four years.
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An anti-hunger group counts 5.2 million people off SNAP since the 2025 law, as states start paying more of its costs today.
More food-stamp changes from the 2025 tax-and-spending law take effect Thursday, Oct. 1. The White House says the changes keep the program going for future generations.
people who have lost SNAP since the law was signed on July 4, 2025, by the count of the Food Research & Action Center, an anti-hunger group
- States' share of running SNAP
- 75% of the administrative costs from Oct. 1, up from 50%. Where counties run SNAP, as in North Carolina, they face about $69 million in new costs in the first year.
- The work rule
- Up to 64 the age to which adults must work or volunteer 80 hours a month to keep benefits for more than three months. It has applied since the law was signed.
- Enrollment
- 36,562,128 in May 2026, by FRAC's count, against an average of 42,126,585 a month in fiscal 2025. Enrollment is at its lowest since 2019.
- Next
- 5% to 15% of benefit costs that most states start paying on Oct. 1, 2027, depending on their payment error rate. A Senate farm bill draft would push that back a year.
“At this point, SNAP benefits are essentially over for me.”Lori Covelli, 53, who lost $760 a month in benefits after applying to about 10 jobs a week with no offerWhat the 2023 law's rise to age 54 did
- At risk
About 750,000 adults aged 50 to 54, by the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
- Cut
About 225,000 people in an average month, by the Congressional Budget Office's projection
- Work
No measurable change in jobs or hours worked at the age cutoff, in a 2024 Census Bureau study of nine states