Vienna – The Ukrainians are long gone. So are the Norwegians. The Italians and South Koreans are getting ready to leave, and the Britons and Japanese could begin packing their bags later this year.
Slowly but steadily, America’s allies in Iraq are drawing down or pulling out as Iraqi forces take more responsibility for security. By year’s end, officials say, the coalition – now 25 nations supporting a dwindling U.S. contingent of 138,000 – may shrink noticeably.
The withdrawals and reductions will test the Iraqis’ ability to reduce attacks and rebuild, said Anthony Cordesman of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, warning in a new report: “It is too soon to predict the extent to which Iraqi forces can eventually replace coalition forces.”
Britain, with about 8,000 troops in Iraq, is the United States’ most important coalition ally. Officials have said they hope to begin bringing home some of their troops this year, though Defense Secretary John Reid has played down recent reports that Britain has settled on a timetable for withdrawal.
“We are going to hand over to the Iraqi security forces … whenever they are ready to defend their own democracy. We are there as long as we are needed and no longer,” Reid said in a recent interview in London, stressing that any withdrawal would be done in stages.
On Tuesday, however, he also said that “if things in Iraq continue to progress as they are, there will be significantly fewer British forces there by next year.”
Poland’s new president, Lech Kaczynski, told The Associated Press his country might keep its scaled-down contingent of 900 troops in Iraq into 2007, but other countries have abandoned the coalition, shrinking the overall size of the force to 157,500, including the 138,000 U.S. troops.
