Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett on Tuesday that her country's troops will be able to go home at the end of next year, voicing confidence that order will have been restored in war-torn Iraq by then. Asked at a joint news conference with Beckett in the Iraqi capital when the last of the 7,200 British troops battling to keep the peace in southern Iraq could head home, Talabani replied: "By the end of 2007"."I don't think fighting will continue until then if the steps of national reconciliation go according to plan. If some groups are still fighting then, our forces will be able to take care of it," he said. "We've achieved good success in building our forces and equipping them with the neccessary arms."
Beckett was cautious however. "The president (Talabani) is not setting a deadline" for a withdrawal, she said. "That is the president's personal opinion... the circumstances will be the judge of everything. If the president is right about the accelleration off the peace process no one will be more happy than us," she said.