Official: US to gradually reduce troops in Iraq

The US military will gradually reduce the number of American troops in Iraq, an official in Baghdad said yesterday.

A spokesman from the Information Office of the Iraqi Prime Minister Saad Al-Hadithi said Iraq has reached a preliminary agreement with the US to begin reducing the American military presence as well as the presence of international coalition forces in general.

Al-Hadithi explained that the agreement was reached “after the victory achieved by the Iraqi forces against the forces of terrorism”, adding that the nature of the next phase requires a presence of another kind.

Coalition spokesman Army Colonel Ryan Dillon said: “Continued coalition presence in Iraq will be conditions-based, proportional to the need and in coordination with the government of Iraq,” AP reported.

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