Tony Blair today said suggestions from the Iraqi president that British troops could withdraw from the country at the end of next year were "entirely reasonable".
Jalal Talabani, who is running for re-election next month, said in a television interview yesterday that Iraqi soldiers could replace the British deployment in the south at the end of 2006.

The comments were his most optimistic assessment yet of the ability of Iraqi forces to take responsibility for security in place of international units, but Mr Blair today said that was possible.

"I think it's entirely reasonable to talk about the possibility of withdrawal of troops next year but it's got to be always conditioned by the fact that we withdraw when the job is done," he said in Downing Street.
Britain and the US have both refused to set a timetable for the withdrawal of troops, with George Bush arguing it would play into the hands of insurgents.

Mr Blair said Britain would pull its 8,500 troops out "when the Iraqi security services are capable of dealing with the security problems" but suggested Iraqi forces were now much improved.

"This is a completely different situation from a year ago. As that progresses, obviously the need for the multinational force reduces ... but it's a question of that happening when the job is done," he said.

Privately, however, British and American commanders in Iraq are concerned about the lack of progress in building up a national Iraqi security and police force, a problem compounded by the infiltration of the Iraqi police by Shia militia in British-controlled southern Iraq.

Interviewed on ITV1's Jonathan Dimbleby programme, Mr Talabani called for a gradual pull-out, with close coordination between coalition nations and the Iraqi authorities. He said immediate withdrawal could lead to civil war.

"We will lose what we have done for liberating Iraq from the worst kind of dictatorship ... Instead of having a democratic, stable Iraq, we will have a civil war in Iraq, we will have troubles in Iraq [and they] will affect all the Middle East."

Before Mr Blair spoke, John Reid, the defence secretary, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme there was no "immutable timetable" but said withdrawal could begin within the next 12 months.

"We are not saying that everyone will be out by the end of 2006, but we are saying that this process - despite the terrorist attempts to destroy it - is going relatively well, and, in the course of the next year, we could well see the handover to Iraqi forces at certain places in Iraq, including in our own area."

The US military today said air strikes had killed about 37 people it said were insurgents, in an operation intended to stop foreign fighters entering Iraq through the Syrian border.

Operation Steel Curtain has now moved to the town of Ubaydi, 13 miles from the border on the banks of the Euphrates river, after joint US-Iraqi sweeps through the towns of Qusayba and Karabila. The operation is also aimed at making it safe for residents to vote in the general election on December 15.

Sunni Arab politicians have spoken out against such operations, saying the offensives cause civilian casualties.