Iraq 'can take over in 18 months'

Iraqi police have been a prime target for insurgent attackers

Iraq's security forces could be ready to take over fully from foreign troops within 18 months, the country's interior minister has said.

Falah al-Naqib said he was "confident" that Iraq would be able to handle its own security in that timeframe.

He was responding to calls within the US and Britain for those countries to announce a timetable for withdrawal.

But Mr Naqib also said he expected militant attacks to resume after a lull since Sunday's election.

On Tuesday Iraq's interim President Ghazi Yawer rejected the withdrawal of foreign troops until Iraq's own forces are ready to take over security duties.

We still have a lot of things to do and I would expect maybe more attacks in the next couple of weeks Falah al-Naqib Iraqi interim Interior Minister

He said it was "complete nonsense" to ask coalition troops to leave Iraq in the midst of "this chaos" and "this vacuum of power".

But Mr Naqib was optimistic that it would not take too long to get Iraq's forces up to speed.

"I think our security forces will be ready to take care of the security of the country within 18 months," he told the BBC during an interview at the interior ministry in Baghdad.

He said Iraqi forces were already succeeding in suppressing the insurgency, and this helped explain the relative calm over the election period.

Representation crucial

"In the last six weeks we have started a major operation against the insurgents and we have been able to capture quite a big number of those people," he said.

"Of course we still have a lot of things to do and I would expect maybe more attacks in the next couple of weeks."

He said the future of the rebellion depended to a large extent on the success of the new elected assembly and government in representing all Iraqis.

If they did that the insurgency would have no place in Iraq, he said.

BBC correspondent in Baghdad Roger Hearing says interim ministers like Mr Naqib may actually have no control over Iraq's future, as they are due to lose their posts when the new government is selected in the coming weeks and months.