BAGHDAD, Sept 5: The top US military commander in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, has suggested he would recommend a cut in US troop numbers around March when he delivers a long-awaited testimony to Congress next week.

Gen Petraeus said it was still very dangerous in Iraq, but President George Bush’s deployment of 30,000 extra soldiers this year had produced an “initiative in general against Al Qaeda, which is a change and that is an important change”.

In Sydney for a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders, Mr Bush said on Wednesday he saw signs of progress in Iraq on both the military and political fronts and again held out the possibility of a cut in troop numbers from the current 160,000.

Petraeus, in an interview with ABC News late on Tuesday, signalled he was looking at March for reducing troop levels.

“The surge will run its course. There are limits to what our military can provide, so, my recommendations have to be informed by -- not driven by -- but they have to be informed by the strain we have put on our military services,” said Gen Petraeus.

“That has to be a key factor in what I will recommend.”

Petraeus declined to be specific about the recommendations he made to Bush during the president’s visit to Iraq on Monday, but asked if the troop cuts could occur in March, he said: “Your calculations are about right.”

MOUNTING PRESSURE: Bush is under mounting pressure from Democrats and some senior Republicans who want US troops to start leaving after more than four years of occupation, during which 3,700 US troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed.—Reuters