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British forces should begin pulling out of Iraq by next March, a senior defense source has revealed to the BBC.
The UK has been negotiating the legal basis on which its forces can stay in the Gulf state when its UN mandate expires at the end of the year.
It still has 4,100 troops in Basra but defense chiefs plan a withdrawal over the next year if Iraqi elections in January pass off peacefully.
A withdrawal could allow resources to be diverted to Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has indicated that almost all British troops should leave Iraq by the middle of next year, with a few hundred possibly remaining to train Iraqi security forces.
Previously it had been suggested that troops could start leaving in January.
However, the BBC has learned that the process is likely to begin in March - six years after the US-led invasion.
The majority of the British troops are confined to Basra air base.
The US is planning to boost the strength of its force in Afghanistan in the new year and is hoping its Nato allies follow suit.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi parliament may have to vote on any deal to allow British troops to remain in the country beyond the end of the year. It recently agreed a similar deal which allows American forces to remain until 2011.
PHOTO CAPTION
British troops in Iraq
BBC
