Paul Bremer shod in his customary combat boots in Baghdad. After 13 months in office, the 62-year-old diplomat left Iraq in a C-130 transport plane about two hours after transferring authority to an interim government. An official said Bremer, who survived an assassination attempt in December last year, would eventually go to Washington to rejoin his family and then go on holiday at their home in Vermont. (AFP)

Istanbul, June 28 (Reuters): Nato leaders tried today to put bitter rows over Iraq behind them with a deal to train the new Baghdad government’s security forces, but France said it still opposed a formal role for the alliance there.

In a further upset to a carefully fostered image of renewed transatlantic harmony, French President Jacques Chirac rapped US President George W. Bush for his support of Turkey’s bid to join the EU, saying it was none of his business.

Bush, in Istanbul along with Chirac and two dozen other Nato leaders for a two-day summit, hailed the formal handover of power in Iraq earlier in the day, but said the interim government may need to take tough measures against insurgents.

“I do not believe it is (Nato’s) mission to intervene in Iraq,” Chirac, a fierce opponent of last year’s US-led war, told a news conference. He said a formal Nato presence in Iraq would “not be in keeping” with the decision taken by alliance leaders earlier.

At the opening session of their summit, the leaders issued a vaguely worded statement responding positively to a request from Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to help train security forces. There were no details in the training deal, reflecting continued disputes over how overt a role the alliance should play in Iraq. France says Nato’s flag should not fly in Iraq.

Nato also agreed to boost troop numbers in Afghanistan to bolster security during September elections. Numbers on the ground will increase by no more than 2,200 from 6,500 currently, with 1,200-2,000 more on standby outside Afghanistan.

“We have agreed today a major expansion of Nato’s role in Afghanistan,” said Nato secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. “We made a commitment to help and we will meet it.”

He has cited the alliance’s plans to widen its peace mission as proof that it can project stability far from national borders. Critics say Nato is doing too little, too late.

The Kabul government welcomed the Nato plan but stressed the troops should be deployed where they were most needed.

Underscoring continued Paris-Washington tensions, Chirac said Bush “not only went too far but went into a domain which is not his own” by urging the EU yesterday to give summit host Turkey a firm date to start entry talks. He said Bush’s comments would be comparable to France seeking to advise Washington on its relations with Mexico.

Bush, who faces a tough re-election battle this year amid growing discontent over US involvement in Iraq, said the handover to Allawi’s government was“a day of great hope for Iraqis and a day that terrorist enemies hoped never to see.”

Asked if Allawi’s government, which took office today two days earlier than expected, might impose martial law, Bush said: “He (Allawi) may take tough security measures against Zarqawi — he may have to.”

“He will not cower in the face of brutal murder and neither will we,” said Bush. The US has said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant, is to blame for a wave of kidnappings, beheadings and bombings that have racked Iraq in the run up to the handover of power.