Ibrahim al-Jaafari
On January 30, 2005, Iraq's first post-war democratic elections were held, without much violence. These elections created the Iraqi National Assembly, which in April 2005 appointed a new administration, including President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. The US administration has repeatedly claimed that they would leave the country if asked to do so by the Iraqi leadership. Talabani stated that improvements in the strength of Iraq's own army could enable US troop reductions of up to 50,000 by the end of 2005, though he later backtracked from that claim.