Iraqis 'impatient' to take control
Iraqi leaders are now "impatient" to run their affairs as conditions in the country improve by the week, David Miliband has said.
On a visit to Iraq, the Foreign Secretary said the country is "yearning" to make its own way after almost six years of occupation by US and British troops.
UK military operations in the southern Basra province are due to come to an end by May 31, with only a few hundred troops set to remain for training purposes, and US President Barack Obama is expected to announce the withdrawal of the bulk of American forces by August 2010.
Asked whether the Iraqis are comfortable with the withdrawal plans, Mr Miliband said he had discussed the issue with the country's prime minister, Nouri Maliki, on Thursday.
"I think the Iraqis on the one hand are impatient to run their own affairs, on the other hand they recognise the vital and massive nature of the American contribution and the help that it can give to them," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Mr Miliband said the US is making an "enduring commitment" to Iraq to ensure it is a stabilising force in the Middle East. Mr Obama is to say that up to 50,000 troops will remain in the country to advise Iraqi forces.
"I think there is a real yearning here for Iraqis to run their own affairs, to make their own mistakes but also to make their own progress," Mr Miliband said.
"However, it's clear that there is massive training function to be done on the security side, that's what Americans are going to focus on after the middle of next year."
After a round of talks with Mr Maliki and other Iraqi leaders in Baghdad on Thursday, the Foreign Secretary is now due to visit British troops in Basra.
Mr Miliband said 2008 had been a "critical year" in re-establishing security in Iraq and that politics are now "moving on to a more normal basis".
-Nova
