British troops could leave Iraq by the end of 2006, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has predicted, according to AP. In a TV interview to be broadcast in Britain on Sunday, Talabani said no Iraqis wanted foreign troops to remain indefinitely in their country, adding that homegrown troops should be ready to take over from British forces in the southern provinces around Basra by the end of next year. But he warned that an immediate withdrawal of U.S.-led forces would be a catastrophe for Iraq and would lead to civil war, with harmful consequences for the whole Middle East. «We don't want British forces forever in Iraq. Within one year _ I think at the end of 2006 _ Iraqi troops will be ready to replace British forces in the south,» Talabani said in the interview with Jonathan Dimbleby for Independent Television. The station released details from the interview on Saturday before it aired.
