Most British troops could be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of next year under an exit strategy outlined by Gordon Brown yesterday. The Prime Minister said British troop numbers would be halved to 2,500 by next spring when a further decision on the next phase would be taken.Ministry of Defence officials said that all British troops could be out by the end of next year, although Downing Street expressed caution about the prospect.
However, Mr BrownÂ’s announcement was marred by a political row over the total number of troops that will be left in the region this Christmas. Last week during his visit to Iraq Mr Brown said 1,000 troops would leave by Christmas. It then became clear that the departure of 500 of them had already been announced. Yesterday it emerged that while a further 500 will leave Iraq by Christmas another 500 support and logistical staff will be sent out to Kuwait at the same time, leaving the total number in the region at 5,000.
Mr Brown said that provincial Iraqi control would be established in Basra in the next two months. Troop numbers would then be reduced from the 5,500 in the summer to 4,500 in December. Early in the new year the figure would be 4,000. In the second stage of “overwatch”, where the coalition’s main focus would be on training and mentoring, the troop number would come down to 2,500 “with a further decision about the the next phase made then”. The latter statement was assumed to mean that in the next phase it was possible that the final drawdown could begin. “Certainly at this stage there is no guarantee that they are going to be there beyond the end of 2008. The policy will be made in the spring,” one MoD official said.