[N Say]

<strong>Written By:</strong> N Say
<strong>Date:</strong> 2008-02-18 14:12:51
<a href="/article/91833525-norway-troops-to-stay-in-afghanistan-for-another-seven-years">Article Link</a>

Norway currently has around 500 soldiers in Afghanistan, with another 200 set to leave for the war-torn country next month and some 150 to return home before the summer.

<a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/18/content_7626338.htm">http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/18/content_7626338.htm</a>

[Rural]

Australia Says Southern Iraq Mission Complete, Troops to Leave <br />
By Gemma Daley<br />
Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Australian troops in southern Iraq have completed their mission and will begin returning home in the middle of the year, the military said today. <br />
``We have achieved our objectives in southern Iraq,'' Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the head of the Australian Defence Force, told a parliamentary committee hearing in Canberra. ``It's time for us to leave.'' <br />
Australia has about 1,500 soldiers in Iraq serving with U.S.-led coalition forces trying to quell an insurgency and sectarian violence. <br />
<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aJM8P9yVqmuk&refer=australia">http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aJM8P9yVqmuk&refer=australia</a><br />
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<p>---<br>When you are up to your ass in alligators it is difficult to remember that the initial objective was to drain the swamp