General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, on Monday recommended that the US end the military ‘surge’ by next summer, saying the move could be accomplished without jeopardising recent security gains.

Has the Iraq surge worked?

Q&A: Post a question for Professor Michael Clarke of the Royal United Services Institute

Gen Petraeus told Congress that the surge had ‘in large measure’ met its military objectives. But he conceded that the move to reduce troop levels by 30,000 took account of the strain that the war was placing on the military.