Washington, July 29: Aboard a US military aircraft – The United States is considering speeding up its withdrawal from Iraq because of the sustained drop in violence there, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said following discussions with his top commanders in the war.
“I think there’s at least some chance of a modest acceleration this year”, Gates said.
It was the first suggestion that the Obama administration might rethink its difficult choice to leave a heavy fighting force in Iraq long past the election of an American president who opposed the war.
Gates said the consideration came because the situation is “better than expected.”
Perhaps one of the current 14 combat units could come home early, Gates said, which would mean a cut of roughly 5 000 people.
Continued bad blood between Iraq’s Arab-led central government and the self-ruled Kurdish region in the north represents the major wild card to a faster pullout, Gates spokesperson Geoff Morrell said.
Concern is growing that North-South tensions over land and resources could become a shooting war once US forces leave. Gates spent much of his two-day visit in Iraq warning both sides that US forces will not be around to keep the peace forever, and he offered US help to mediate.
“These are some fundamental issues, and I think it’s important that both the government in Baghdad and the Kurds have pursued them through political means so far”, Gates told reporters after meeting Kurdish President Massoud Barzani in Irbil, capital of the Kurdish self-ruled area.
—Agencies