Blair: Britain to "hold its nerve" in Iraq

British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday reassured the visiting Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih that Britain will "hold its nerve" in Iraq,

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett also said before she met Salih that there would be no "rash" deadlines, adding that Britain would only leave Iraq when the Iraqi government could cope with the situation there, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported on Monday.

Salih told reporters outside No. 10 Downing Street after his meeting with Blair that the international community could not "cut and run ... and leave the Iraqis to face these difficult challenges on our own."

"We understand this is not an open-ended commitment by the international community," he noted, adding Iraqi forces would assume control of the country province by province.

Salih's visit to London comes amid reports that U.S. President George W. Bush is considering punishing the Baghdad government, if it fails to meet deadlines to stop the violence, which has flared in the past month.

A Downing Street spokesman denies that the prime minister would press Salih on an exit strategy.

Last week, General Richard Dannatt, chief of the British Army, reportedly said that British troops "exacerbated" Iraq's security problems, and thus should withdraw "sometime soon." His words put great pressure on the British government and aroused much speculation on an earlier pull-out of the British forces in Iraq.

Britain has about 7,000 troops stationed in southern Iraq, around the city of Basra.

Source: Xinhua