British troops could begin handing over security duties to Iraqi forces within a year, Defence Secretary John Reid said Sunday, adding remarks by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani were consistent with British aims.
"As I have consistently said, we will stay in Iraq until the job is done and the Iraqis are able to provide their own security," Reid said in a statement following a television interview given by Talabani.
"This process of handover to the Iraqis is one which could begin in the course of the coming year," he said.
"President Talabani's comments are consistent with our aims," he said.
In an interview Sunday with Britain's ITV1, Talabani said: "We don't want British forces forever in Iraq. Within one year - I think at the end of 2006 - Iraqi troops will be ready to replace British forces in the south." Some 8,000 British troops based in the southern city of Basra have been in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Asked whether he was making a commitment, Talabani replied: "Well, I haven't been in negotiations, but in my opinion and according to my study of the situation I can say that it is the just estimation of the situation..."
The British army's most senior officer, General Sir Mike Jackson, said on BBC television that Talabani's prediction of a British departure by the end of 2006 was "well within the range of what is realistically possible".
But Jackson, the chief of general staff, said it was important not to set a timetable for withdrawal at this point.
It was important for conditions to be met where the US-led coalition, the Iraqi government and Iraqi people "have the confidence that they can now fully stand on their own feet (and) there is no requirement to be supported by the coalition", Jackson said.
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