Britain to pull out 5,500 troops from Iraq: Report [View All]

[Rose Siding]

Britain plans to reduce the size of its military force in Iraq from 9,000 to 3,500 soldiers within a year and increase its troops in Afghanistan in a renewed bid to hunt down Osama bin Laden and other senior Al-Qaeda figures reportedly hiding close to the country's border with Pakistan, a leading London newspaper said on Sunday.

The withdrawals from Iraq could begin by April next year because coalition forces would have trained enough members of the Iraqi defence and police forces to take control of security throughout Iraq, according to the report in The Sunday Telegraph.

Lt Gen James Conway of the US marines recently said that the withdrawal of American troops within the same time frame as the British was possible because Iraqis were "starting to take control of their own situation".

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1304763,00050003.htm

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