Poland said Friday it plans to reduce the number of its troops in Iraq from early next year and will not remain there "an hour longer than is sensible."
Prime Minister Marek Belka said in a parliamentary speech before a confidence vote in his minority cabinet that Poland will keep troops in Iraq as long as needed to secure a power transfer to local authorities. "Poland will reduce her contingent from the beginning of 2005 and will be talking about further reductions," he said.
"We will not remain in Iraq an hour longer than is sensible, than necessary to achieve our mission's goal: To return Iraq to the Iraqi people and give security to the world," Belka said.
Poland, seen by the U.S. as a key ally in Iraq, has 2,500 soldiers in the south-central part of the country, heading a multinational division of 8,000 troops.
But the government has been under growing pressure to pull out, with nearly three-fourths of Poles against deployment.
Poland said last week it will have plans to pull out its troops after Iraq holds elections, due in January. Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski also floated the idea of withdrawing troops by the end of 2005.
Seventeen Poles have died in Iraq over the last 13 months. Belka's cabinet faces a long-scheduled confidence vote in parliament no earlier than noon GMT. His foreign and health ministers face no-confidence votes also Friday.
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