Gates: Plans to withdraw some troops still stand

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The flare-up in violence in Shiite areas of southern Iraq and Baghdad has yet to alter U.S. plans to withdraw more combat forces this spring, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday.

Gates, speaking to reporters traveling with him from Brussels, Belgium, to the Danish capital, offered a mildly upbeat assessment of the Iraqi government’s military intervention in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

He said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is to be commended for taking the initiative in Basra, and he described the Iraqi security forces as having performed reasonably well, with American support.

“Based on what I’ve seen, the limited reporting I’ve seen ... they seem to have done a pretty good job,” Gates said without mentioning that al-Maliki had promised a “decisive and final battle” for control of the southern oil capital of Basra when he ordered a military intervention there a week ago.

“We’ve all known that at some point the situation in Basra was going to have to be dealt with,” Gates said. “It is the economic lifeline of the country and been under the control of a bunch of thugs, gangs [and] militias. Over the long term it’s unacceptable.”

Gates was in Copenhagen to consult with Danish government officials in advance of a NATO summit meeting that begins Wednesday in Bucharest, Romania. Gates said he wanted to thank the Danish government for committing about 600 troops in Afghanistan’s Helmand province as part of a NATO force.

“This is an ally that in my opinion is really punching above its weight,” Gates said, referring to the commitment to Afghanistan by a country with a relatively small military. During a stop earlier Monday at NATO’s main military headquarters near Mons, Belgium, Gates huddled with senior U.S. and allied commanders to discuss the security situations in Afghanistan and Kosovo. NATO has military commitments in both countries.

Gates said it appeared likely that the NATO summit will produce a limited number of new promises of troop deployments to Afghanistan.