Obama last week approved an extra 17,000 soldiers for Afghanistan, having been asked for near twice that number, confirming that Washington's focus was shifting from Baghdad to Kabul as the security situation in Iraq improves.

"There is no doubt that we will be out of the cities by June," US military spokesman Major General David Perkins told reporters in Baghdad, reiterating a commitment made to the Iraqi government under a deal struck last November.

Under the so-called Status of Forces Agreement, all US troops must leave Iraq by the end of 2011, and troop numbers are already being reduced.

There are 146,000 US soldiers in Iraq and only 38,000 in Afghanistan, according to the latest Pentagon figures.

Perkins said detailed discussions were "ongoing" between General Ray Odierno, the top US commander in Iraq, and Washington, on whether troops would be moved to Afghanistan.

"We have just finished a fairly large reduction and we are in the process of readjusting our forces on the ground," Perkins said.

"General Odierno is in discussions with the secretary of state and secretary of defence about what he thinks is needed here. I would imagine shortly that the president will make a decision and we will go through with it."

Obama has launched a comprehensive policy review of US strategy in Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan due before the April 3-4 NATO summit in Strasbourg, France and Khel, Germany.

The US president has said that more troops are needed in Afghanistan, which he regards as the frontline in the battle against Al-Qaeda, as the situation there is deteriorating.

The approval of 17,000 troops last week followed a request from the US commander in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, for 30,000 more soldiers.

Under the orders, 8,000 marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade will deploy to Afghanistan in late spring, and about 4,000 soldiers from the 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division will deploy in mid-summer, the Pentagon has said. Some 5,000 support troops will arrive later.

Obama indicated that the units had initially been earmarked for Iraq, but said the drawdown of US forces there "allows us the flexibility to increase our presence in Afghanistan."

NATO officials have warned that security in Afghanistan is likely to be a bigger problem in the coming months in the run-up to presidential elections scheduled for August.

earlier related report
Analysis: 'Old Europe' in Iraq
Berlin (UPI) Feb 20, 2009
by Stefan Nicola
France and Germany are changing their Iraq policies after having fiercely opposed the U.S.-led war there.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is not the first person who comes to mind for expanded relations with Iraq. Steinmeier used to be part of a group of politicians former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once branded as "Old Europe" for their opposition to the invasion of the Middle Eastern country.

Steinmeier in 2003 was chief of staff of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who had teamed up with Jacques Chirac of France and Vladimir Putin of Russia to harshly criticize Washington for the invasion.

Earlier this week, however, Steinmeier paid a surprise visit to Baghdad, the first trip there by a German foreign minister in 22 years, heralding a major shift in Germany's Iraq policy.

"We extend our hand to the new Iraq," Steinmeier was quoted by Deutsche Welle as saying upon arrival in Iraq on Tuesday. "This is our way of helping the new Iraq on its path toward democratic consolidation and peaceful reconciliation between religions and ethnicities."

Steinmeier's visit comes just a week after French President Nicolas Sarkozy became the first leader of "Old Europe" to travel to Iraq since the end of the war.

Both nations hope to benefit from what observers expect to become a quickly recovering economy once security in the country further stabilizes.

Sarkozy during his visit told French companies it was "time to invest" in Iraq and announced that a senior government and business delegation would travel to the country this summer.

Steinmeier, who met with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, was accompanied by managers from German companies, including giants Siemens and Daimler. While Siemens will deliver components for gas turbine power plants in Iraq, Daimler opened a representation in Baghdad.

Steinmeier also opened an economic information office in Baghdad and a consulate in Erbil, in northern Iraq. Berlin hopes both offices will revive what used to be intensive economic relations between Germany and Iraq.

Already, the situation on the ground is changing.

Barack Obama has entered the White House with a promise to greatly reduce U.S. troops in Iraq. More than 140,000 soldiers will have left the country by the end of 2011. Security has improved, and in northern Iraq, the peaceful self-governed Kurdish province enjoys an economic boom that observers hope will be mirrored by the rest of the country as well.

German exports to Iraq in 2008 were at roughly $380 million, but there is much more potential for German involvement in the rebuilding of infrastructure, such as streets, power plants, hospitals or universities.

"I'm certain that people in Iraq will want to leave violence and hatred behind and build a common future for their country," Steinmeier said in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish province, where Westerners don't have to fear abductions or terrorist attacks.

Yet both European powers should be interested in more than just benefiting economically, observers say.

Iraqi officials have long called for more German engagement in Iraq; they hope to benefit from Germany's expertise on rebuilding a state after the country's reunification in 1990.

France and Germany also have the chance to alter their increasingly unrealistic and untimely hands-off approach to Iraq. If Europe invests in Iraq's potential, the country could turn into an important partner for the West in the region.

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