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U.S. to decide in weeks, "not months" on Iraq troop cuts


    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will make a decision in weeks, not "days or months," on cutting U.S. troop levels in Iraq, a senior administration official said on Tuesday.

    Obama has pledged to pull out all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months, while shifting thousands of soldiers to Afghanistan, which he has called the central front in the U.S.-declared war on terror.

    "We are aggressively working Iraq and we expect a set of decisions on the responsible drawdown forthwith -- not within days or months, but weeks," the administration official told Reuters.

    (Reporting by Ross Colvin)