WASHINGTON, Dec 8: The US military has drawn up plans to cancel the deployment of two army brigades to Iraq and one to Afghanistan next month in what could be the start of a reduction of forces in those countries, defense officials said on Thursday.

But small groups from two brigades, which each include about 3,500 troops and hundreds of supporting soldiers, could be sent to help train Iraqi security forces, according to the officials, who asked not to be identified.

There are currently about 155,000 US troops in Iraq. President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are under mounting pressure from some members of Congress to begin reducing that force amid waning public support for the war.

Mr Rumsfeld told reporters on Thursday that the United States planned to reduce its force in Iraq, recently bolstered to help protect elections there on Dec. 15, back down to the normal level of about 137,000 next year, but that going lower than that would be based on the security situation.

“I think that as we’ve said all along it’s condition-based. And the reality is that the Iraqi security forces are improving in capability and experience every day, every week, every month,” Mr Rumsfeld said after meeting with members of Congress.

“We’ve plussed-up (added) considerably from 137,000 ... up to about 160,000 to be helpful during the election period,” he said. “And we certainly expect to go back down to 137,000. If conditions permit we can go below that. But time will tell.”

Defense officials have said that they are considering dropping the US force to about 100,000 by next summer, but stressed that no final decisions have been made.

NO TIMETABLE: Mr Bush and Mr Rumsfeld have refused to set any timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, where more than 2,100 Americans troops have died since the March 2003 US-led invasion that toppled President Saddam Hussein.