BAGHDAD, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- A phased withdrawal of U.S. and British forces from Iraq is to start after this week's parliamentary elections in the country, according to senior diplomats.
U.S. and British officials have made it clear they view the installation of a new national government in Baghdad as a green light to begin removing troops as early as March, the Times of London reported Tuesday.
A senior Western diplomat in Baghdad said Monday: "One of the first things we will talk about (with the new Iraqi government) is the phased transfer of security, particularly in cities and provinces. It will happen progressively over the next year."
The comments are the strongest signal yet that the British and U.S. administrations intend to speed up the withdrawal from Iraq because of increasing domestic pressure.
The British government has been eyeing spring 2006 as a possible date to begin a phased withdrawal, but, as U.S. President George W. Bush has insisted, it will not "cut and run."
The United States has increased its troop numbers in the run-up to this week's nationwide elections, but is set to withdraw 30,000 troops by the new year. With 160,000 troops currently stationed in the country, its presence may be reduced to under 100,000 in the coming months.
Britain has 8,000 troops in four southern provinces. Plans are already in place to withdraw from the two relatively peaceful provinces of Dhiqar and Muthana as early as the spring.
Troops will then pullout from Misan province, where the situation is currently less secure. But a senior British officer said that Iraqi security forces might be able to "keep a lid on the violence" there by the end of this year.
However Iraqi government figures are deeply concerned that the move will result in a security vacuum and leave the country vulnerable to interventions from neighboring states.
Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi foreign minister, said Monday: "Those who advocate an early withdrawal do not know what is at stake. The huge investment in blood and money sacrificed by the U.S. could be squandered.
"There would be regional interventions by neighboring countries and others. The fate of this country and the whole region could be endangered," he said.
