WASHINGTON, July 16: The last US surge brigade is now out of Iraq, but there are still 150,000 US troops in country, well above pre-surge levels, a Pentagon spokesman said on Wednesday.

Lieutenant Colonel Mark Wright said troop levels were “artificially high” because of an overlapping rotation of security force brigades.

But there are still about 18,000 more US troops in Iraq than at the start of the surge in early 2007 in part because the level of US support forces has risen alongside the five combat brigades that made up the surge, officials said.

The last of the additional five combat brigades to leave was the 3rd Infantry Division’s 2nd brigade, which returned to Fort Stewart, Georgia, over the past month, an army spokesman said.

Its departure has set in motion a 45-day period to consolidate, reposition units and to reassess the security situation.

General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, will then make recommendations on whether additional troop reductions can be made this year.

Despite a sharp decline in violence, commanders in Iraq have been reluctant to put at risk security gains there with deeper troop cuts. But pressure has grown to shift more troops to Afghanistan, where insurgent violence is up.

Brigadier General Mark Milley, deputy commander of the 101st Airborne Division, told CNN in an interview on Tuesday that “additional forces are needed during this fighting season.” Pentagon spokesmen said US commanders in Afghanistan have told Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, they need more Mine Resistant Armored Protected (MRAP) vehicles as well.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said commanders have asked for three more combat brigades, about 10,000 troops, for Afghanistan.

“But we’re coming up to the end of the fighting season so that is probably something that cannot happen until the next fighting season,” Morrell said.

There were about 132,000 troops in Iraq before the surge began in early 2007.

The five additional brigades added about 20,000 troops to the force, but the overall number of US troops grew to as high as 170,000, and only recently has begun to come down.

Lieutenant General Carter Ham, director of the Joint Staff, said earlier this year that the size of the force would shrink to about 140,000 after the surge. But that projection has crept up in recent weeks to 142,000.

“There are any number of combat multipliers, enablers that despite the fact that some of the units that they were supporting have left, that they are still required for the forces that remain behind and to bolster Iraqi capabilities,” said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.—AFP