American military commanders have developed a plan, which amounts to being the first formal exit strategy for Iraq.
The plan is to gradually cut back troop levels in Iraq next year, the Washington Post reported, citing interviews with top military officers.
Currently, there are 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. The plan to cut that number is well advanced and has been described in broad outline to U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld but has not yet been approved by him, the Post said, in its Sunday edition.
It would begin to draw down forces next spring, cutting the number of troops to fewer than 100,000 by next summer and then to 50,000 by mid-2005, officers involved in the planning said.
The paper added that the plan is designed to show how the U.S. presence in Iraq might be reduced without undercutting the stability of the war-torn country. (Albawaba.com)
