History of the Australian Army with automatic weapons; and shoot army personnel or others until they were killed or captured. Australia, as one of the many countries who sent troops to Afghanistan, provided specialist SAS teams for use against Taliban/Al Qaeda forces. Australia was one of the countries to provide combat forces for the US-led invasion of Iraq. In Australia it was known as Operation Falconer. In all Australia contributed some 2,000 personnel. The Army contribution to this was 500 soldiers. Following the end of major combat operations, Australia announced a withdrawal of most of its forces in Iraq. It left behind approximately 950 troops
History of Iraq (2003–2011) Pentagon, the US State Department and the National Security Council before charting the new course on Iraq. All foreign troops have withdrawn from Iraq. On 18 August 2010 the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, the last U.S. combat brigade withdrew from Iraq, ending the U.S. combat mission in Iraq. 52,600 U.S. military personnel remained in Iraq to take on an advisory role. On 19 August 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that all U.S. combat operations would end on 31 August. 50,000 troops would stay in an advise-and-assist role. The full withdrawal was in December 2011. Between 15 and