US redeploys troops to Afghanistan

[XXPANTHAXX]

At least 8,000 will be out of Iraq by February 2009

George Bush, the US president, has announced 8,000 troops will be pulled
out of Iraq over the coming months and 4,500 sent to Afghanistan by
January.

"While the enemy in Iraq is still dangerous, we have seized the
offensive, and Iraqi forces are becoming increasingly capable of leading
and winning the fight," he said in a speech in Washington DC on Tuesday.

"Attacks by the Taliban have increased over the past two years," Bush
said at the National Defence University.

Bush said Afghan soldiers were "courageous" but "needed help" and that
it was important to rebuild educational, agricultural infrastructures in
the country.

He said success in Afghanistan was "critical for America and people of
the free world".

Nick Spicer, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Washington, said: "The
withdrawal amounts to 5.5% of the troops in Iraq ... it's really not
that significant.

"This isn't the big pull-out some people in the establishment were
calling for."

Decision 'too late'

Al Jazeera's Jasim Azawi, the presenter of Inside Iraq, said the
decision to "make amends" by removing troops from Iraq was "too late".

He said: "The legacy, the name, the connection between Iraq and
president Bush, is going to be a negative one.

US to redeploy Iraq troops

"This is the biggest disaster the United States has committed in the
21st century and it will be a long time before the credibility of the
United States and the name of president Bush is mentioned in a good
sentence.

"The negative effect of the legacy of George Bush is not limited to
Iraq, it has spread all over the Arab world as well as the Muslim world.

"The next [US] president is going to [have to] work very hard in order
to ameliorate the image of the United States."

Any large-scale change in US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan will be left
to Bush's successor - either John McCain, the Republican nominee or
Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate - after Bush leaves office in
January 2009 following the November 4 presidential elections.

Zeina Khodr, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kabul, said: "US military
commanders have been calling for up to 10,000 troops to be sent ... they
are facing a resurgent Taliban carrying out bolder attacks.

"The Taliban have not been defeated."

Voters' anger

A reduction of 8,000 soldiers would leave 138,000 US government troops
in Iraq and there are currently 33,000 in Afghanistan.

That will still be more than before Bush ordered a "surge" of extra
forces in 2007 and also more than in November 2006, when his Republicans
lost mid-term congressional elections largely due to voter anger over
the war.

Bush's plan follows recommendations from senior US defence officials,
including Robert Gates, the defence secretary, Mike Mullen, chairman of
the joint chiefs of staff and David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq.


Obama has promised to withdraw US troops from Iraq within 16 months and
said he would put more resources into Afghanistan and "anti-terrorism
efforts" along the Pakistan border, where US officials say they believe
Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, is hiding.

McCain has refused any set any timeline for withdrawing troops from
Iraq.

He has said he prefers Bush's policy of removing them based on
commanders' recommendations and security conditions in the war zone.

'Fragile and irreversible'

Bush's "surge" strategy, which sent an additional 30,000 troops to Iraq,
has helped stem violence and pulled Iraq back from the brink of civil
war, according to White House officials.

The so-called "surge," which was announced in 2007, was criticised by
many Democrats who said the US should be pulling out of the country.

While violence has fallen in Iraq, attacks against US, Nato and Afghan
troops in Afghanistan have soared.

Nato commanders there have asked for additional forces for years and say
they still need about 12,000 troops.

The US has 33,000 troops in Afghanistan, split between a Nato-led
mission and a separate "counter-terrorism" mission run by the Pentagon.