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WASHINGTON : The United States would make only modest cuts in US force levels in Iraq early next year under a plan presented to President George W. Bush that calls for a shift in forces to Afghanistan, US defence officials said Friday.
A senior defence official confirmed that the plan would shrink the number of US combat brigades in Iraq to 14 from 15 and reduce the overall size of the force by some 8,000 troops by March.
"There will be well over 7,500 personnel reduced, with the reductions taking place as units complete their missions between now and early next year, with the major unit (a brigade combat team ) leaving without replacement in mid-January," a senior US military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
US commanders in Iraq have urged caution in reducing the size of the 146,000-strong force, worried that conditions remain fragile despite dramatic gains in security.
But Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has emphasized the need to reinforce US and NATO troops in Afghanistan where conditions have deteriorated in the face of a resurgence by the Taliban.
A top US commander in Afghanistan said Friday he needs more troops and other resources for a winter offensive against the insurgents, who appear to be preparing to winter in Afghanistan in significant numbers for the first time.
"I do believe that the level of significant activities, maybe violence, will be higher than any previous winter since 2002," said Major General Jeffrey Schloesser in a video teleconference from Afghanistan.
"We're not losing this war, we won't lose it if those troops don't show up in the next several months," Schloesser told reporters.
But to "maintain the momentum and get after this winter campaign, then we are going to the need them in, say, the winter time frame," he added.
Schloesser was vague about how many troops he needed, putting it at "some number of a thousand."
Under the plans presented to Bush on Wednesday, about 4,500 additional troops would go to Afghanistan, including a Marine battalion that had been slated to replace a battalion in Iraq's al-Anbar province later this year.
A combat brigade that was in line to deploy to Iraq also would be moved instead to Afghanistan in February 2009 under the plan.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Mullen presented their recommendations to Bush on Wednesday and also shared the views of General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Martin Dempsey, the Central Command chief, and the Joint Chiefs.
"Without getting into what specifically they advised the president, I can tell you that all these leaders are fundamentally in agreement on how we should proceed in Iraq," Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement late Thursday.
"As in the past, this was a collaborative process and they came to agreement after serious and lengthy discussions about the dramatic security gains in Iraq, the threats that still exist there and the uncertainties that remain," he said.
"Based on all that, they collectively decided on what they believe to be the best approach going forward. Of course, now it is up to the commander-in-chief to decide the way ahead," he said.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush is likely to announce a decision on US troops levels in Iraq next week, but that it would not come at the same time as an overdue US-Iraq long-term strategic agreement.
- AFP /ls
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