Demobilization

Ances Najim hovered anxiously as Iraqi soldiers peered into the trunk of his car and clambered up a wall to see what was stashed in a neighbor's courtyard. When an officer informed him the search was done, the lawyer broke into a wide grin and readily signed a form confirming that nothing was taken from his home. "It's the first time that the Iraqi army has come in here, and nobody hit me, nobody broke anything," Najim, a Sunni Arab, said incredulously.

Army Gen. David H. Petraeus has recommended that President Bush postpone sharp troop cuts in Iraq until next year, delaying a large-scale shift of combat forces to Afghanistan and reflecting concerns that widespread violence could return to Iraq. Under the recommendation, the current level of about 140,000 troops would remain in Iraq through the end of Bush's presidency in January.

Russia will pull its troops out of Georgia proper in one month, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pledged Monday, but only after international monitors deploy near the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia agreed to the withdrawal after receiving a security guarantee that Georgia will not attack the Russian-backed republics, said Medvedev, who appeared alongside French President Nicolas Sarkozy after talks in Moscow.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada's troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan in 2011, as his minority government looks to win support in national elections next month. Harper, who has been a steadfast ally of President Bush in the post-Sept. 11 fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, said Canadians do not want to keep their soldiers in Afghanistan beyond 10 years.

Hundreds of Russian forces packed up and withdrew from positions Saturday in western Georgia, and a Georgian official said Russia had met a deadline for a partial pullout a month after the war between the two former Soviet republics. Russian soldiers and armored vehicles rolled out of six checkpoints and temporary bases in the Black Sea port of Poti and other areas nearby, Georgian Security Council chief Alexander Lomaia said.

As Iraq's government presses Washington for a deadline to withdraw American troops, top U.S. military officials Monday cautioned against pushing Iraqi forces to take control too quickly -- a warning underscored by bombs that killed at least 35 people. The attacks, on the eve of Army Gen. David H. Petraeus' hand-over of command of U.S. forces in Iraq to Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, were a reminder of the challenges ahead as Odierno tries to hold on to security gains with fewer U.S.

Poland turned over control of an area south of Baghdad to American troops on Saturday, making it the latest in a string of countries to leave the dwindling U.S.-led coalition. As a band played their national anthem, Polish soldiers hoisted Poland's red and white flag on a parade field at their main base, Camp Echo, just outside Diwaniya. Maj. Gen.

Russian troops on Sunday began dismantling positions in the so-called security zones in Georgia that they have occupied since the war in August, Georgian and EU officials said. Moscow faces a Friday deadline for pulling back its troops under a deal brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on behalf of the European Union. Hundreds of EU observers began monitoring Russia's compliance last week.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki warned in comments broadcast Friday that the top U.S. commander in Iraq "had risked his position" by suggesting that Iran tried to bribe Iraqi lawmakers to oppose a security agreement with the United States. Maliki's remarks were aired on state television as he convened the leaders of Iraq's political blocs to review the security agreement that would sanction U.S. troops staying in Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires Dec. 31.

Iraqi political leaders met Sunday and forwarded a U.S.-Iraq security pact to the Cabinet for discussion without endorsing the agreement, which concerns the length of time American troops can remain in Iraq. Officials of the ruling Shiite political bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance, said they still want some revisions in the language of the document, which now says U.S. forces must leave Iraq by the end of 2011, unless Iraq asks them to stay on.