Washington, May 12: The Pentagon said Tuesday the pace of a drawdown of US troops from Iraq was on schedule and had not been pushed back because of violence or delays in forming a new Iraqi government.
The US military has about 94,000 troops in Iraq now and is on track to reduce the force to 50,000 by September as promised by President Barack Obama, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters.
Another 3,000 troops would be withdrawn this month, putting the US force at 91,000, he said.
“The plan was always to be at about 91,000 by the end of May, after which point the more accelerated drawdown would begin,” he said.
He was responding to an Associated Press report saying the drawdown schedule had been pushed back due to concerns over political stalemate and recent violence.
Morrell acknowledged that an earlier, more gradual schedule for the US withdrawal had been revised because Iraq’s parliamentary elections were pushed back from December to March.
But he said that even if the pace of the planned drawdown had been adjusted, “I don’t think it is a dramatic development.”
The current troop levels meant the US military would need to pull out 41,000 troops over three months, but Morrell said commanders were confident they could meet the September deadline.
“They clearly believe they can do that,” he said.
His comments came a day after a wave of attacks left at least 110 people dead in Iraq and more than 500 injured.
Christopher Hill, the US ambassador to Baghdad, on Sunday voiced confidence that Iraq was headed towards a new government after a deadlocked election in March, but said no frontrunner had yet emerged to lead the country.
—Agencies