The bulk of the 146,000 US troops deployed in Iraq will remain behind

US President George W Bush is set to announce plans to withdraw about 8,000 troops from Iraq by February and to send additional forces to Afghanistan.

Mr Bush will say in a speech on Tuesday that the improving security situation in Iraq will allow a "quiet surge" of troops in Afghanistan in coming months.

A Marine battalion due to go to Iraq in November will be sent to Afghanistan, followed by an Army combat brigade.

There are currently 146,000 US troops in Iraq and 33,000 in Afghanistan.

Any long-term decision about their future deployment will be left to Mr Bush’s successor, who will take office in January.<!–more–>

Meanwhile, the former EU envoy to Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, has accused the Bush administration of "misleading itself" in its approach to the country.

Mr Vendrell told the BBC’s HARDtalk programme the West’s strategy in Afghanistan was "incoherent" and needed a complete overhaul - but this would not happen while President Bush remained in office.

‘Degree of durability’

The BBC’s Jonathan Beale says the continued decline in violence in Iraq since last year’s US troop "surge" has given President Bush a chance to ease the growing strain on his country’s military.

Taleban’s 20-year war

Acting on the advice of his generals, Mr Bush will announce on Tuesday that a Marine battalion, comprising about 1,000 troops, scheduled to leave Anbar province in November will return home as planned without being replaced.

An army brigade of between 3,500 and 4,000 troops will also leave in February, accompanied by about 3,400 support forces, he will say.

"While the progress in Iraq is still fragile and reversible, Gen [David] Petraeus and Ambassador [Ryan] Crocker report that there now appears to be a ‘degree of durability’ to the gains we have made," Mr Bush will say in a speech at the National Defense University, according to the White House.

"And if the progress in Iraq continues to hold, Gen Petraeus and our military leaders believe additional reductions will be possible in the first half of 2009."

Our correspondent says the withdrawals announced on Tuesday will mark the start of a slow and limited draw-down based on what Mr Bush calls "return on success". However, it will still leave the bulk of US forces behind in Iraq.

Last month, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said that although a timetable for the withdrawal of the remaining troops did not exist, he had tentatively agreed with the US military to end the presence of foreign combat troops by 2011.

The Iraqi government is currently negotiating a security agreement on the future of US forces in Iraq before a UN mandate expires.

Afghanistan ‘fragile’

In his speech on Tuesday, Mr Bush will also signal that the US will make modest increases in the strength of its forces in Afghanistan to combat the growing threat posed by the Taleban.

Aid agencies point to a 50% increase in insurgent attacks in Afghanistan

"For all the good work we have done in that country, it is clear we must do even more," he will say.

"Unlike Iraq, it has few natural resources and has an underdeveloped infrastructure. Its democratic institutions are fragile."

"And its enemies are some of the most hardened terrorists and extremists in the world. With their brutal attacks, the Taleban and the terrorists have made some progress in shaking the confidence of the Afghan people."

In November, a Marine battalion that was scheduled to deploy to Iraq will instead go to Afghanistan. It will be followed in January by an army combat brigade.

The Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief said last month that violence in Afghanistan had reached its worst level since 2001, when US-led forces overthrew the Taleban, with more than 260 civilians killed in July.

Afghanistan’s government said the bloodshed was connected to peace deals Pakistan’s government had sought with Islamist militants in the north-western tribal areas along the border.

FIRE trucks and armed police may be stationed outside their embassy, but Thai officials and business are putting a brave face on economic ties, which they say will weather the Preah Vihear temple feud.

The more than two-week long dispute has brought fears of a repeat of the 2003 anti-Thai riots, during which the Thai embassy and Thai businesses were looted and torched.

As talks between Thai and Cambodian officials on the most recent spat run on with no clear resolution, rumours have circulated that Thais are fleeing Cambodia or have frozen their investments.

And while the Thai embassy has issued security warnings to citizens traveling to Cambodia, Poonsak Khunudom, the Economic Attache at the Thai embassy in Bangkok, said that he had heard of no Thai business pulling out.

“Our relations are good…We have to support each other,” said Poonsak Khunudom, the economic attache at the Thai embassy in Bangkok.

“A lot of Thai investors are interested in Cambodia,” he said.

Fears revisited
The temple dispute has dredged up memories of the aftermath of the 2003 riots, which saw relations – and business ties – nose-dive.

But according to Yong Yut, a spokesman for Siam Cement Group in Cambodia (SCG), the Preah Vihear dispute has had no effect on the company’s operations. “This month our orders fell, but that was because of the elections – not the temple dispute,” he said. 
SCG is Thailand’s largest conglomerate and is a major global construction materials producer.
The company was hard hit by the 2003 riots when its Phnom Penh offices were destroyed by rioters.

SCG currently has operations in Phnom Penh, Kampot and Siem Reap and reported about US$50 million in annual local sales, and production of about one million tonnes of concrete earmarked for the local market.

The company expects 15-20 percent local sales growth this year, according to Yong Yut.

Thailand continues to aggressively promote trade and investment in Cambodia and the region through a number of initiatives such as Thailand’s Import-Export bank and the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Strategy (ACMECS).

The programme targets Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, and saw 2.13 million baht in loans going to Thai businesses investing in Cambodia and regional trade growing to $10 billion last year.

Thailand is the third largest investor in Cambodia from the region and has about 100 SMEs in Cambodia, according to the Thai embassy.

Thai exports rose more than 70 percent this year – the highest rate in five-years, according to Thailand’s Commerce Ministry.

Mr Karadzic said his arrest was accompanied by "drastic irregularities"

Radovan Karadzic has said a "media witch hunt" means he will not receive a fair trial at a UN war crimes tribunal.

The former Bosnian Serb leader wrote to the tribunal saying he has already been branded a war criminal by the press, making an acquittal "unimaginable".

Mr Karadzic, who faces 11 counts of war crimes including genocide, also claims he made an immunity deal with the US.

Richard Holbrooke, who negotiated the accord that ended the Bosnian war, told the BBC: "There was never any deal."

Mr Karadzic referred to an alleged deal made with Mr Holbrooke, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, for him to withdraw from public life.

Mr Karadzic said he had tried to keep his side of the alleged deal, which he said was made in 1996, but it later became apparent there were attempts to "liquidate me".

"It is clear that, unable to fulfil the commitments he had undertaken on behalf of the USA, he (Holbrooke) switched to Plan B - the liquidation of Radovan Karadzic," he said.

‘Media witch hunt’

In a document submitted to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Thursday, and released by the tribunal on Friday, Mr Karadzic said his arrest had been "accompanied by many drastic irregularities".

"The first irregularity I would mention is the media witch hunt which began in the Muslim media even before the beginning of the armed conflict and which proclaimed me a war criminal at a time when the only victims were Serbs," he said.

He added: "It is now unimaginable to many people that this court could acquit me.

"I believe that this fact seriously jeopardises the trial itself."

Appearing before the court on Thursday, Mr Karadzic said he had decided to represent himself during his trial, but did not immediately enter a plea.

He was given 30 days to do so, and the tribunal judge adjourned the hearing until 29 August.

Deal claims

Claims that a deal with the US existed have been put forwarded by Mr Karadzic’s supporters for some years.

But Mr Holbrooke told the BBC the claim of a deal was a "completely false story, put out by Karadzic after he disappeared from public life, and he was trying to justify himself… It’s laughable."

Mr Karadzic had remained president of the Bosnian Serb Republic (Republika Srpska) until 1996, despite having been indicted for war crimes the year before.

But his continued refusal to resign was overshadowing Bosnia’s first post-war elections, which were approaching.

In July 1996, Mr Holbrooke announced in Belgrade that Mr Karadzic had been persuaded to step down.

"He will not appear in public, or on radio or television or other media or participate in any way in the elections," Mr Holbrooke said.

Shortly afterwards, Mr Karadzic went into hiding, not to reappear until his capture last month.

But Mr Holbrooke denies that immunity was ever part of the 1996 agreement.