British troops could start withdrawing from Iraq next year, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Monday.

"I think it's entirely reasonable to talk about the possibility of withdrawal of troops next year but it's got to be always conditioned by the fact that we withdraw when the job is done," Blair told reporters after talks with Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi.

"And the job is, when the Iraqi security services are capable of dealing with the security problem they have, now the Iraqi capability is growing the whole time," Blair said.

"It's always been part of our plan to withdraw when the Iraqis are capable of looking after their own security," he added.

On Monday, British Defense Secretary John Reid said in an interview with the BBC radio that the whole process of troops withdrawal "could start within the next 12 months."

"We are not saying there would be immediate withdrawal. We are not saying that there is an immutable timetable, irrespective of conditions on the ground," he said.

"We are not saying that everyone will be out by the end of 2006 but we are saying that this process...is going relatively well and in the course of the next year we could well see the handover to Iraqi forces at certain places in Iraq, including in our own area, " Reid added.

In an interview on British ITV1's Jonathan Dimbleby Program on Sunday, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said British troops could leave Iraq by the end of next year.

"We don't want British forces forever in Iraq. Within one year - I think at the end of 2006 - Iraqi troops will be ready to replace British forces in the South." Talabani said.

When asked whether he was committed to this happening, he said, "I haven't been in negotiations, but in my opinion and according to my study of the situation I can say that it is the just estimation of the situation."

"There is not one Iraqi that wants that forever the troops remain in the country." he said.

Britain, a staunch US ally on Iraq war, is stationing some 8,500 troops in Iraq, mostly based in the south of the country near Basra. Up to now, 97 British soldiers have died in Iraq since the start of the Iraq war in March 2003.

On October, Reid told the House of Commons that Britain will cut its troops in Iraq by about 500 to 8,000 in November.

Source: Xinhua