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George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq, said on Sunday that a gradual withdrawal of US troops from that country is possible in the months to come.

"As long as the Iraqi security forces continue to progress, and as long as this (Iraqi) government continues to operate that way and move the country forward, I think we are going to be able to see a continued gradual reduction of coalition forces over the coming months and into next year," Casey said in "Face in the Nation" of CBS News Television.

His remarks were made on eve of the two-day meeting of US President George W. Bush and his top national security officials on Iraq policy, which begins Monday at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.

However, Casey declined to say whether he plans to advise Bush on a troop reduction plan during that meeting, though suggesting that he may do so very soon.

"I was waiting until we got a government seated before I gave the president (Bush) another recommendation so we have some sense of what we have got," he said.

Casey also said the Iraqi forces are more capable of quelling insurgency, which is widely viewed as another key condition for making US withdrawal possible.

Meanwhile, Mouwafak al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser told CNN Television on the same day that he believed the number of the US-led coalition forces could drop below the benchmark of 100,000 by this year-end, and the majority of coalition forces could leave before mid-2008.

With the completion of the formation of an Iraqi government and the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida's chief in Iraq, the Bush administration now moves to re-evaluate its Iraq policy.

Top US commanders in Iraq and Iraqi leaders will also join the Camp David meeting via teleconference system from Baghdad.

(Xinhua News Agency June 12, 2006)