The British Defense Ministry confirmed Tuesday that it hoped to reduce its troop levels in Iraq “sooner rather than later,” and to send more troops to Afghanistan. But a spokesman said there was no “timetable, no fixed date” for the plan.The spokesman was responding to a report in The Daily Telegraph quoting Britain’s chief of military operations, Air Marshal Glenn Torpy, as saying that he expected a “satisfactory conclusion” to the Iraq operation within 18 months as more military responsibility was transferred to Iraqi troops. “I think over the next year and a half we will see, as we witness a ramp-up of Iraqi capability, that the requirement for us to be around will reduce, but we should not underestimate the challenge that we face,” he told The Telegraph.Full Story