Sat, Aug 16, 2008 page6

• UK on track for more Iraq troop cuts next year

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  Britain is on target to further reduce troops in Iraq next year as security in the southern oil hub of Basra steadily improves, the recently departed commander of British forces there said.

  Major General Barney White-Spunner, who returned to London this week after six months commanding Britain’s 4,100-strong force in Basra, said security was now so good that soldiers could stop and eat kebabs on the city’s streets.
  
  

  “The change in Basra is really very marked,” White-Spunner told defence correspondents in an interview on Wednesday. “As Iraq gets better and better, it will allow for force reductions. Conditions now are looking as if the fundamental change of mission will be able to take place next year.”
  
  

  Last month, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised a major troop withdrawal in the early months of next year but White-Spunner also would not be drawn on dates or numbers, but declared himself a “genuine optimist” about the situation.
  
  

  “From a UK point of view, we’re getting pretty close to achieving what we went there to do, to be honest,” he said.
  
  

  Britain had planned to cut troops to 2,500 by the start of this year, but a resurgence of violence in Basra late last year meant plans had to be put on hold. The US was also reluctant to see Britain withdraw too soon.
  
  

  Since that backtrack, Brown has been more cautious about setting deadlines. He told parliament any further drawdown would be coordinated with the US and British commanders.
  
  

  Defense officials have hinted Britain could cut numbers to fewer than 1,000 troops in the first half of next year, although no decisions have yet been taken. The reduction would allow the military to focus on operations in Afghanistan, where 8,000 troops are based and face intense Taliban opposition.
  
  

  If Britain does decide to cut numbers early next year, Washington has contingency plans in the works to shift extra forces south to Basra, the Wall Street Journal reported.
  
  

  The paper said that if the plan were implemented it would happen early next year, coinciding with when Britain could accelerate its own reductions.
  
  

  Speaking before the newspaper published its report on Thursday, White-Spunner said: “Obviously there’s considerable planning going on with the Americans as to what the future construct in Iraq is going to look like.”
  
  

  “The Americans quite sensibly ... want the force reductions to be such that they can maintain the gains they’ve made, and obviously we will be in discussion with them military-to-military as to how we take that planning forward,” he said.
  
  

  Britain’s increasingly stand-back role in Basra, where as recently as late 2006 it still had 9,500 troops, has caused some controversy recently, with US commanders suggesting Britain was not pulling its weight.
  
  

  During an outbreak of violence in March, British forces initially stayed in their base as Iraqi troops, backed by US forces, took on militants. White-Spunner dismissed suggestions Britain had not been fully engaged in the battle and said security had now improved almost beyond measure.
  
  

  As an example he said property prices had risen sharply in Basra in recent months, with foreign investors, including businessmen from Kuwait, buying houses on the corniche.
  
  

  White-Spunner said Iraq’s security forces now estimated there were barely 1,500 hardcore militants left in the city.
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