US chief administrator Paul Bremer said Saturday that Iraqi security forces now outnumber US-led coalition troops in Iraq.
"Right now in Iraq, there are more Iraqis providing security than there are coalition forces here," said Bremer in a statement to mark the graduation of almost 500 Iraqi police officers from training in Jordan.
The coalition maintains about 140,000 forces in Iraq, while the combined strength of the Iraqi police, border guards, civil defence corps and protection service is 193,000, coalition spokesman Shane Wolfe said.
There are about 67,000 police officers, 9,000 border guards, 19,000 Iraqi Civil Defence Corps personnel, 97,000 Facility Protection Service officers and 1,800 Iraqi soldiers.
"Like thousands of other Iraqis, these officers have taken a visible step forward to securing the people and the future of the new Iraq," said Bremer.
Officials from the interim Iraqi government have repeatedly called for Iraqis to take a greater role in securing law and order. Bremer dissolved the Iraqi army and the intelligence services last May in an effort to purge the forces of remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime.
On Tuesday, he stressed that without an ongoing US military presence rebels could gain the upper hand.
"Iraq will not be capable of meeting the security threat they are likely to face in July without continued assistance from other countries," Bremer told reporters at Camp Claiborne, near the northern city of Mosul.
He added that there was no deadline for the full withdrawal of US troops, despite the abilities of the ICDC and other forces.
"I do not think it is a very wise thing to try to put a time line. That has to be driven by the conditions on the ground. There are two things, how big is the threat, and how capable are the Iraqis of meeting the threat. "But I think it is fair to say that everybody we have talked to does expect that the Iraqis will be able to deal with the security threat that they are likely to face later in the year".
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