How Real Is the US Withdrawal from the Middle East?

US troops may be leaving the Middle East, but Washington’s influence remains.

By: Salman Rafi Sheikh

American airmen board a C-17 at Al Udeid Air Base during the withdrawal in 2021. Wikimedia image

Washington has pulled its last troops out of Iraq. Asia, which buys most of the oil Iraq sells, should not mistake that for freedom.

On September 30, the last American soldiers left Iraq, closing a chapter that opened with the 2003 invasi…