Iraq eyes big drop in foreign forces by end-2008
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Foreign troop levels in Iraq could drop to less than 100,000 by the end of 2008 if Iraq's own forces were ready and security threats had diminished, Iraq's national security adviser said on Wednesday.
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Iraqi President Jalal Talabani estimated that the Iraqi army will be in a position to take over from the Americans at the end of 2008, and rejected calls by Democrats for the United States to start withdrawing troops and turning over responsibility to the Iraqis within weeks.
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Britain will reduce its contingent of just over 7,000 troops in Iraq by almost half in May as it hands the main province of Basra over to Iraqi army and security forces, a newspaper reported.
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Iraq's interior minister told British television Sunday he expected U.S. and other foreign forces to leave his country within 18 months.
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Despite stepped-up training, the readiness of the Iraqi military to operate independently of U.S. forces has decreased since President Bush's new strategy was launched in January, according to the White House progress report released yesterday.
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Poland will pull all of its troops out of Iraq by the end of 2005, with Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski for the first time setting a firm timetable for withdrawal by this key US ally.
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Thousands of British soldiers will leave Iraq over the next year, significantly downgrading the country's commitment in the region, the defense secretary said Monday.Comment
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Iraq's interim president said Tuesday it would be "complete nonsense" to ask U.S. and other foreign troops to leave Iraq at this point but some of the 170,000 soldiers could be leaving Iraq by the end of the year.
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President Jalal Talabani said Wednesday that Iraqi forces will take over security in all provinces in the country by the end of the year. U.S. forces currently are responsible for security in 17 of Iraq's 18 provinces.
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The number of UK troops in Iraq by the end of 2007 is expected to be lower "by thousands", the defence secretary says.
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Poland&#39;s defense minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski has announced plans to cut his country&#39;s forces in Iraq by almost one third next year.
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Britain said on Wednesday it would withdraw almost a quarter of its troops from Iraq in coming months, just as thousands of additional U.S. soldiers were arriving there to try to restore order in Baghdad.
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The number of U.S. troops in Iraq could fall to about 130,000 by next summer, the total before this year's build-up, but it is too early to say when it may go lower, the top U.S. general in Iraq said on Monday.
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Britain will withdraw nearly half its troops from Iraq by the end of the year if local forces can secure the southern part of the country, Prime Minister Tony Blair planned to announce Wednesday.Comment
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Britain expects to withdraw thousands of its 7,000 military personnel from Iraq by the end of next year, Defense Secretary Des Browne said Monday.
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One day after President Bush announced a limited drawdown of U.S. troops from Iraq by next summer, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday that it might be possible to reduce U.S. forces there further over the course of next year, down to approximately 100,000 troops by the end of 2008.
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WASHINGTON -- Buoyed by a higher turnout and less violence than expected in Sunday's Iraqi election, Pentagon authorities have decided to start reducing the level of US forces in Iraq next month by about 15,000 troops, down to about 135,000, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said yesterday.