Current plans to draw down the US troop presence in Iraq remain "on track" but further withdrawals will depend on the readiness of the country's own army, defense chief Robert Gates said Thursday.
"All the evidence available to me suggests that we will be able to complete the drawdown of the five brigade combat teams that General (David) Petraeus recommended back in September by the end of July," Gates told reporters, naming the top US general in Iraq.
"We are on track."
"It remains my hope that the pace of the drawdowns in the second half of the year can be what it was in the first half of the year," he added, but warned that will depend on Petraeus's assessment of the Iraqi forces' readiness, which he is due to announce in March.
"One of things that's very much on general Petraeus's mind is where we stand in training and equipping the Iraqi Army and the importance of handing over responsibility to the Iraqi Army."
He said the United States aimed eventually to take a more hands-off role, overseeing the Iraqi forces' own security operations from a distance.
"Ultimately the mission will be one of what we call strategic overwatch, which is basically that we are not engaged on a daily basis, the Iraqis in the lead and we are providing support," he said.
"We have begun that process of transition."
General Raymond Odierno, the number two leader of US forces in Iraq, on Thursday reported an "improving security situation" in Iraq, with attacks declining and successes in disrupting the Al-Qaeda extremist network.
He declined to speculate whether further reductions of troops would take place after July.
"I would not want to make that prediction right now," he told reporters.
"Based on the conditions and if we continue to see … attacks at the same level or lower level, then we will decide."
Also on Thursday, another senior US general reported to Congress that Iraq's home forces, despite being "bigger and better" than ever, were not yet ready to take control.
"The Iraqi security force structure and capability still lack some maturity," James Dubik, commander of the Multinational Security Transition Command, told a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee.
"They cannot fix, supply, arm or fuel themselves completely enough at this point. And that's a major effort that we will have ongoing for the next several months to change that around."
