US braces for more troop withdrawals

IRAQ’S multinational peacekeeping force scrambled to regroup yesterday after Spain’s announcement that it would pull out its 1,300 troops, with Albania pledging more soldiers but US officials bracing themselves for more withdrawals.

Poland, which commands the 23-nation force of 9,500 troops in south-central Iraq, said it was taken by surprise by the announcement on Sunday that Spain, the third-largest contributor with 1,300 troops, would be pulling out.

Spanish troops will leave Iraq in less than six weeks, Defence Minister Jose Bono said on Monday in Madrid, but it remains unclear who will take their place. The 9,500 peacekeepers under Polish command are charged with the south-central sector, where followers of radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr are waging a bloody rebellion.

Poland another key US ally pledged to keep its 2,400 troops in Iraq. However, Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller admitted the defeat of the Spanish conservatives could cause "very serious complications" for Warsaw.

Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt, the top US military spokesman in Iraq, sought to allay fears about the implications of the Spanish pullout, saying there would be no "security vacuum in that area at any time."

"Numerically those are numbers (the Spanish contingent) that should be able to be replaced in fairly short order," Kimmitt said.

Albania immediately said it was ready to increase its presence. At the moment Albania's commitment is mostly symbolic, consisting of 71 non-combat troops patrolling the city of Mosul under US command. Ukraine, Australia, Portugal, Slovakia and the Dominican Republic said their commitments to the force would not waver.

Honduras announced yesterday that its troops will serve under Polish command after the Spanish leave.

But US officials said they feared the Central American country also might withdraw from Iraq.

Honduras now has 370 troops in Najaf under Spanish command, alongside small forces from El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.

"Those troops depend on the Spanish troops for logistics and language reasons," said Grzegorz Holdanowicz, Polish correspondent for Jane's Defence Weekly.

Honduras had planned to withdraw its contingent in July as scheduled.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said "Honduras was affected by the decision of Spain," suggesting it might pull out earlier while El Salvador would likely stay. Honduran Foreign Minister Leonidas Rosa Bautistas said the president "has ordered an urgent evaluation of the situation."

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced the pullout just hours after his Socialist government was sworn in.