Britain: Brown assures Bush more troops for Afghanistan, no Iraq withdrawal

After speculation in the media of a rift between London and Washington over troop deployments in Iraq, he added that there was no timetable for a withdrawal from the country. Britain has 4,200 troops remaining in Iraq on the outskirts of Basra and took part in the US-Iraqi offensive in late March against Shiite militiamen in the city. He also supported Bush in pledging that tougher sanctions will be imposed on Iran for failing to stop its nuclear energy programme.

Defence Secretary Des Browne later told parliament that a further 230 soldiers will be sent to Afghanistan, taking the total to around 8,030 by early 2009.

Sundays Observer newspaper had claimed that Bush had delivered a stern message to Brown last week, warning about further reductions of British forces in Iraq. The White House moved to defuse the issue by saying, What the president said is what the president has been saying and Prime Minister Brown has been saying from the very beginning. Downing Street declared that it was not British policy to set arbitrary timetables on troop withdrawal.

At their press conference Bush said, I have no problem with how Gordon Brown is dealing with Iraq. Hes been a good partner.

He continued, I just want to remind you that [Brown] has left more troops in Iraq than he initially anticipated. Like me, he will be making his decisions based on the conditions on the ground without an artificial timetable based on politics.

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