US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has told US troops in Iraq that their mission there is in its "endgame".
Mr Gates said the US military presence would undergo a "significant change of mission" next June when troops are due to withdraw from Iraq's urban areas.
Under a recently agreed deal between the two countries, US troops will completely withdraw from Iraq by 2011.
However, the US general leading US troops in Iraq has said he expects some soldiers to stay in cities beyond June.
The Iraqi parliament voted in favour of the new security deal with the Americans last month. Iraq's government has hailed the agreement as the prelude to the return of full sovereignty to the country.
'In the endgame'
Speaking to US troops at an air base north of Baghdad, Mr Gates said the process of reducing troop numbers had already ...........continua




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