The United States has declared an end to its war in Iraq after eight years and nine months.

U.S. troops lowered the flag of command that flew over Baghdad on Thursday, making official the end of America’s war in Iraq.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that “after a lot of blood spilled by Iraqis and Americans," the goal of an Iraq that can govern and secure itself has been realized.

However, concerns are also rising that Iraq could become like Lebanon after U.S. troops withdraw from the country as its economy is in ruins and conflicts between religious and political sects are mounting.

Almost 45-hundred U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis lost their lives during the war which cost the U.S. some eleven-hundred trillion won.