Washington: The US has said there might be some additional troop contributions as a result of the latest UN Security Council resolution on Iraq, but those were likely to be only small additions.

"I am not expecting large troop contributions. There may be some marginal additions to the troop presence," US Secretary of State Colin Powell told ABC News yesterday (Jun 13, 2004).

He said after the return of sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30, there would be the continuing presence of 138,000 US troops and thousands of troops from coalition nations.

Some 16 of 26 North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) nations are represented there.

The real solution to the security problem, said Powell, was for Iraqi forces to be trained as quickly as possible. "And we are working as hard as we can to increase Iraqi capabilities. They are the ones who really have to take charge of their security." Powell said NATO's hands seemed full currently and so no large bodies of troops were expected from that side.

"NATO might be able to take on some additional responsibilities in Iraq with respect to police training, with respect to, perhaps some headquarters activity they might be able to perform.

"But we are not expecting NATO to come forward with large numbers of additional troops. There are not large numbers of additional troops that are readily available. And some countries have said that they are unable to prove them and won't send them, like France and Germany," he said.