Rumsfeld: Troops in Iraq to be cut
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-23 21:15

He watched Jordanian special operations soldiers in a mock assault on a building, using live ammunition, and then spoke to a group who are among the 92 undergoing training now. Rumsfeld told them their work is important to eventually allowing U.S. troops to leave their country.

"The United States and the coalition countries are anxious to turn over the security responsibilities to the Iraqis as soon as we are able to do so," said Rumsfeld, who arrived in the country Thursday for his 11th visit since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.

Bush is under growing pressure from the Republican-run Congress to cut U.S. forces in Iraq. The conflict's acceptance by American voters has plummeted as the war's toll has mounted to more than 2,100 U.S. war dead and 15,000 wounded.

Bush, Rumsfeld and other administration officials have said a withdrawal would begin when the U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces show sufficient signs of being able to defend the country against insurgents.

There were 159,000 U.S. troops in Iraq on Thursday.

Iraq on Oct. 15 held a constitutional referendum, and on Dec. 15 held elections for a full-term government.

For the first time since the insurgency took hold in Iraq in midsummer 2003, Rumsfeld was spending the night in the country. He previously had made Iraq day trips but spent the night in other countries in the region.

In Afghanistan earlier Thursday, military officials said they were progressing toward eliminating the Taliban resistance and al-Qaida terrorists who continue sporadic violence against U.S. troops.

But some officers said the hostile forces were making gains by acquiring more advanced weaponry, such as armor-piercing munitions, and improving their training and organization.

Asked whether conditions in southern Afghanistan are more dangerous than earlier in the conflict, Capt. Matthew Harmon, commander of headquarters company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, said in an interview, "That's a very fair assessment." Harmon is serving his fourth tour in Afghanistan.

Capt. Chris Sample said the 1st Battalion had engaged in 88 firefights in the past six months. That is more than in its three previous Afghanistan deployments combined, he said. There also has been a recent increase in vehicle-borne suicide bombers, he said.