US-led forces ‘could leave within 18 months’

US-LED forces could leave Iraq within 18 months, Iraqi interim Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib said yesterday.

“I think we will not need the multinational, foreign forces, in this country within 18 months,” he told Britain’s Channel 4 News. “I think we will be able to depend on ourselves.”

Election officials said turnout had been higher than expected despite attacks by insurgents bent on destroying the poll.