Rice says conditions for US troop reduction in Iraq 'fairly soon'
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-23 20:27

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that conditions for reducing the number of US troops deployed in Iraq could be in place "fairly soon."

"The president has said that as soon as Iraqi forces are ready, we want to see a reduction in our own forces, and I think those days are going to be coming fairly soon when Iraqis are going to be more and more capable of carrying out the functions to secure their own future," Rice told Fox News Channel in an interview.

About 159,000 US troops are currently deployed in Iraq ahead of a December 15 election that is expected to produce the country's first democratically-elected permanent government since the toppling of the Saddam Hussein dictatorship in April 2003.

Once the election is over, the number of US troops is expected to be brought back to about 138,000, which US defense officials refer to as the "baseline" contingent.

However, Rice insisted that for the US troop withdrawal to begin, fledgling Iraqi security forces should demonstrate their ability to "hold territory."

"It's seeing them be able to go in and defend that highway from the airport that was always considered such a violent highway," the secretary of state explained. "It means that they are in control of whole areas in the south and in parts of the north."