Early pullout will lead to violence - Iraqi minister

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari has said an early withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq would lead to more violence…

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari has said an early withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq would lead to more violence by insurgents.

Mr Zebari said his war-torn country had made progress on improving security but added it faced a crucial period ahead of the December 15th parliamentary election.

"The difficult part has gone in my view. We're very close to reaching a more stable form of government and of security," Mr Zebari told a news conference following a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

"Now, any premature withdrawal will send the wrong message to the terrorists, to the opposition . . . that this coalition is fracturing and running, that their policies and strategies of undermining this process is winning."

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He said he could not give a time frame for when the coalition forces would be able to leave Iraq but added it would be at least months after the new Iraqi government was formed.

US defence officials said this week that the Pentagon planned to reduce the number of US troops in Iraq, currently 155,000, to about 138,000 after next month's election. This could be cut further to about 100,000 next summer if conditions allowed.