Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki today said Iraqi security forces will be ready to take over from US troops when they withdraw, despite the country's army chief of staff saying the pullout was premature.
"We have got an army with the weapons, supplies, training and ability to protect the security and sovereignty of Iraq," Mr al-Maliki said today in comments aired by al-Iraqiyah television.
The prime minister was speaking at a conference in Baghdad focusing on the end of the US combat mission this month and the full withdrawal of US troops in 2011. Yesterday at the meeting, Iraqi army chief of staff Lieut Gen Babakar Zebari said the country's forces will not be ready to fully replace US units until 2020 and that he advised Iraqi politicians to find ways to fill the void.
"The politicians respect the opinion of the military, but the decision-making lies ultimately in the hands of the politicians," an Iraqi government spokesman said today. "The decision has been made for the US withdrawal."
Plans to end the US combat mission are on track, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters yesterday after a meeting in Washington between President Obama and his security team to discuss the pullout.
Under the Obama administration's plans, US forces are due to start withdrawing from Iraq at the end of August, apart from 50,000 troops who will support and train Iraqi forces before leaving the country by the end of 2011.
"At this point, the withdrawal is going well, because they are still here," Lieut Gen Zebari was quoted as saying yesterday. "But the problem will start after 2011 - the politicians must find other ways to fill the void after 2011."
"If I were asked about the withdrawal, I would say to politicians: the US army must stay until the Iraqi army is fully ready in 2020."
Violence in Iraq has fallen since the peak of sectarian warfare in 2006-2007, but the number of violent civilian deaths, from daily bombings, shootings and other attacks, rose sharply in July.
US officials have said they expect violence to worsen as al-Qaeda insurgents exploit the failure of political factions to agree on a new government after a parliamentary election in March.
In Washington, US officials gave a positive assessment of the situation in Iraq on Wednesday, emphasising the growing capability of Iraq's security forces.
Reuters