Al Maliki I Government in the context of "History of Iraq (2003–2011)"

The occupation of Iraq (2003–2011) began on 20 March 2003, when the United States invaded with a military coalition to overthrow Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and his Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and continued until 18 December 2011, when the final batch of American troops left the country. While the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia were the largest contributors to the coalition, 29 other countries, such as Japan, were involved in the Iraq War in a lesser capacity. Additionally, several private military contractors took part in enforcing the occupation.

It was a period of violence and political turmoil, and saw strong foreign influence exerted on Iraqi politics. In April 2003, the fall of Saddam's government was formally marked by the establishment of the Coalition Provisional Authority, which later appointed and granted limited powers to the Iraq Interim Governing Council. In June 2004, the Iraqi Interim Government was established, ending the international armed conflict that had existed between Iraq (that is, Ba'athist Iraq) and the United States. Following the January 2005 Iraqi parliamentary election, this administration was replaced by the Iraqi Transitional Government. A year later, the Al Maliki I Government took office.

The Iraqi conflict is a series of violent events that began with the 2003 American-led invasion of Iraq and deposition of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, followed by a series of conflicts including the protracted Iraq War (2003–2011), the Iraqi insurgency (2011–2013), the War in Iraq (2013–2017), and most recently, the small-scale Islamic State insurgency in 4 provinces located in Northern Iraq since 2017.

In the ensuing 2003–2011 Iraq War, the Multi-National Force (MNF–I) led by the United States helped to establish a Shia-dominated federal government, which was soon opposed by an Iraqi insurgency. Insurgent groups mostly fought the new government and MNF-I, but also each other, mostly along sectarian lines between Shias and Sunnis. In 2011, the MNF–I withdrew from Iraq, leading to renewed sectarian violence and enabling the emergence of the Islamic State (IS). The renewed war drew an American-led intervention in 2014. The most recent war in the country came to a close in 2017 as the Iraqi government and its allies largely defeated the IS, which was followed by a low-level IS insurgency in certain rural northern parts of the country.