Iraq troop pull-out could begin in 2006 - report
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-12-13 09:04

The United States and Britain could start withdrawing troops from Iraq as early as March 2006, a British newspaper reported on Tuesday.

British and American officials regard this week's election for Iraq's first full-term parliament since Saddam Hussein's fall as the green light to begin a pull-out, the Times said.

"It will happen progressively over the next year," the newspaper quoted an unnamed senior Western diplomat as saying. "One of the first things we will talk about (with the new Iraqi government) is the phased transfer of security."

A spokesman for Britain's defense ministry said the report was in line with previous government statements, but he would not confirm the March 2006 date for the start of a withdrawal.

"Our plan for the gradual withdrawal of troops from Iraq is based on conditions rather than specific dates," he said.

The Pentagon said on Monday that Army Gen. George Casey, the U.S. commander in Iraq, will assess the situation quickly after the vote and could make a recommendation as early as this month on whether and when to cut the 155,000-strong American force.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who faced fierce opposition to his support for the war, said last month that Britain could start pulling out some of its 8,000 soldiers in 2006 if local forces are strong enough.

Iraq is training its own soldiers and police to take control of security and fight a Sunni Arab insurgency that has killed thousands of people since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

A senior British army officer said in an interview late on Monday that a withdrawal could start within six months in some areas of Iraq.

"We wish to get out of this country as soon as possible when we have put in place the conditions that allow the Iraqis to continue to develop," Major General Jim Dutton, who commands a multinational force in southeast Iraq, told BBC television's "Newsnight" programme.

"Six months is not an unrealistic timescale to start talking about withdraw of troops from some areas."