200807231928 | UK to scale down its forces in Iraq

UK to scale down its forces in Iraq

London - Britain hopes to scale down its forces in Iraq early next year in a "fundamental change of mission" in the war-scarred country, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday.

Speaking after a weekend trip to Baghdad and Basra, he said that Iraqi forces would increasingly take full charge in the south of the country, where British troops have been based since the 2003 US-led invasion.

The latest British plans come a day after US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had expressed support for a pullout of US troops by 2010.

Change of mission

Brown said the hoped-for gear-change in 2009 would come after its switch from frontline duty to training and mentoring this year.

"Just as last year we moved from combat to overwatch, I would expect a further fundamental change of mission in the first months of 2009," he said.

"We will continue to reduce the number of British troops in Iraq," he said, while insisting that all decisions will be based on advice from military commanders on the ground.

Brown gave no further details of the change in mission, but said military commanders expected control of the airport would be handed to the Iraqis "by the end of this year".

British forces handed back Basra province to the Iraqis in December, and cut troop levels from 5 500 to 4 500, but a further drawdown to 2 500 was suspended after Iraqi forces launched a clampdown against militias in March, he said.

Since then Britain has embedded 800 British troops within the Iraqi command structure, and cut numbers to 4 100, Brown said.

Time-horizon

Local government elections should be held by the end of 2008, while the first stage of training Iraqi troops should be over "around the turn of the year", Brown said.

"As we complete these tasks - and as progress continues across those different areas - we will continue to reduce the number of British troops in Iraq," he said.

Maliki and US President George W Bush have agreed to include a "time-horizon" for the withdrawal of US forces in a security pact still being negotiated.

The British announcement also came after a parliamentary oversight committee on defence published a positive report about Basra.

The all-party Defence Select Committee said there had been an "obvious and substantial improvement" in security since their last visit, and the Iraqi clampdown - Operation Charge of the Knights - had been "broadly successful".

Challenges remained, they added, but said training and development of Iraqi forces was now the priority for British troops.