US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday that the US military is capable of coping with missions in Iraq and the domestic hurricane relief efforts simultaneously.

He told a Pentagon press conference that the country has "the forces, the capabilities and the intention to fully prosecute the global war on terror while responding to this unprecedented humanitarian crisis here at home."

"We can and will do both," Rumsfeld noted, adding that "there are more than 300,000 National Guard, soldiers and airmen who are not deployed overseas."

His remarks were aimed to quell criticism that large US military presence in Iraq will cripple the military's relief efforts in areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

There are over 58,000 active-duty and National Guard personnel engaged in the relief efforts, according to Gen. Richard Myers, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

At present, the Pentagon has about 140,000 troops in Iraq and another 20,000 in Afghanistan.

Source: Xinhua