It could be five or 10 years before Iraq becomes a stable democracy, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said.
Straw told the BBC's Newsnight program late on Wednesday that there was no timetable for the withdrawal of British troops, but he hoped it would take place within "a very limited number of years."
"I am optimistic about Iraq, I think in five to 10 years we will see it becoming stable," Straw said.
"I think if you compare nation-building in other situations after the war in Europe, building up stable nations from the collapse of the Soviet Union, look at Afghanistan, I think that's a reasonable prospect."
Straw said British troops would remain in the country until Iraqi security forces were able to take over.
"There is no date set [for withdrawal] but we all hope it can be completed in a matter of a very limited number of years," he said.
Britain currently has about 8,500 troops in Iraq, based in the south of the country.
In related news, an opinion poll released by the Newsnight program on Wednesday found that a majority of Britons want the country's troops out of Iraq immediately or a firm withdrawal date while 40 percent agree with the government's policy of keeping them there until Iraqis can fully take over security.
The poll found that 40 percent of all Britons agreed with the government's policy of keeping a British military presence until Iraqi security forces were ready to take over, 31 percent thought the troops should leave Iraq now and 23 percent felt that a firm date should be set for the departure of troops.
The other 6 percent said they did not know when the troops should leave.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has repeatedly said that British troops would stay in Iraq as long as they were requested to do so by the Iraqi government
Defense Secretary John Reid told lawmakers in the House of Commons on Monday that a troop rotation next month would see Britain's presence in Iraq cut by about 500, to about 8,000. Reid said two small bases in the southern Iraqi city of Basra would close, but the number of British troops would not change significantly.
The poll also found that 57 percent of Britons felt that committing troops to military action in Iraq was "the wrong thing to do," while 33 percent thought it was a good idea. Ten percent of respondents were undecided on the decision to send troops.
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
DEADLOCK: Putin has vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, while talks have been paused with no immediate results expected, the Kremlin said Russia on Friday said that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that he was running out of patience with Putin, and the NATO alliance said it would bolster its eastern front after Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace this week. The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus. Despite Trump forcing the warring sides to hold direct talks and hosting Putin in Alaska, there
North Korea has executed people for watching or distributing foreign television shows, including popular South Korean dramas, as part of an intensifying crackdown on personal freedoms, a UN human rights report said on Friday. Surveillance has grown more pervasive since 2014 with the help of new technologies, while punishments have become harsher — including the introduction of the death penalty for offences such as sharing foreign TV dramas, the report said. The curbs make North Korea the most restrictive country in the world, said the 14-page UN report, which was based on interviews with more than 300 witnesses and victims who had
RSS