UK:Decisions on troop withdrawals from Iraq will be taken independently of the United States, British government ministers indicated yesterday.
British foreign secretary David Miliband insisted the government would not take its lead from the US as British prime minister Gordon Brown sought to head off renewed calls for an early exit.
Mr Miliband said the UK's national interest would come first in setting military strategy in Basra, where British forces faced different circumstances from those facing US troops in Baghdad.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell had criticised the government's reluctance to pull troops out, warning that the number of fatalities had become unacceptable.
But Mr Brown insisted troops still had "an important job to do" in Iraq. In a letter to Sir Menzies, Mr Brown said the military had "clear obligations to discharge", and it was wrong to say the continued presence of more than 5,000 personnel would "achieve little".
There have been repeated claims that British forces are exacerbating the situation in southern Iraq, where sectarian factions are regarded as on the verge of civil war.
Mr Brown's letter will be seen as an attempt to reassure those who fear that Britain is wavering in its commitment to military operations - particularly among the US administration.
Sir Menzies said the money spent on British operations in Iraq should be spent to equip the forces in Afghanistan "to a far greater and better extent, which would give us a better opportunity to win in Afghanistan".
"The risk is that we are sacrificing Afghanistan on the altar of Iraq," he added.