Friday, December 23 2005 13:32 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Fallujah: US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today (Dec 23, 2005) announced that the United States would withdraw two combat brigades (totalling between 5,000 and 9,000 soldiers) from Iraq by next spring.

Rumsfeld arrived early today on a surprise visit to this Sunni bastion 50 kilometres west of Baghdad where he met with some 300 US troops.

"The adjustments being announced are the recognition of the Iraqi people's progress in assuming added responsibility for their country," Rumsfeld said speaking of the withdrawal.

"We anticipate future coalition force-level discussions at some point in 2006, after the new Iraqi government is in place and is prepared to discuss the future," he added.

A new Iraqi government is expected to be installed early next year in the wake of the December 15 general elections whose final results are not yet known.

"Let me be very clear: The challenges ahead, military, political, economic, will not be easy. The United States as all you know did not come to Iraq for oil, not to occupy. We came here only to help," Rumsfeld also said.

Speaking of Fallujah, a former rebel bastion, Rumsfeld praised progress made in the town saying it has "some of the highest voter registration and turn-out rates in the country and has increasingly capable and confident Iraqi security forces in the streets helping to maintain order and to hunt down terrorists".

The defense secretary flew in to Iraq from Afghanistan to visit US troops ahead of the Christmas holiday.