The United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously to extend the mandate for the multi-national force in Iraq for a further year.
Baghdad said it hoped this was the last time it would have to request an extension for the force.
The new mandate will expire at the end of 2008, but Iraq says it may ask for it to finish sooner than that.
More than 150,000 troops operate in Iraq under the UN mandate - the overwhelming majority of them American.
The Iraqi representative in the UN, Hamid al-Bayati, said the situation in the country had improved.
"The remnants of Al-Qaeda along with their allies suffer continued defeats," he said.
The US Ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, said extension would provide "support for the people and government of Iraq as they work to consolidate and extend the gains made this year".
In its latest report to Congress, the Pentagon said US forces had achieved "significant progress" in Iraq over the last three months.
There has been a lull in violence following the "surge" by US troops in the Baghdad area earlier this year.
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