WASHINGTON — Large numbers of US troops are no longer needed on the ground in northern Iraq to defuse Arab-Kurdish tensions and have begun handing over control to local forces, a US commander said Thursday.
Under mounting budget pressure, the US Army probably will have to shrink the size of its force below a planned target of 520,000 troops, the new Army chief of staff said Thursday.
BAGHDAD  US Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Baghdad on Saturday for a surprise visit aimed at bolstering Iraq's fledgling democracy almost four months after an inconclusive election.
