area south of Baghdad.

But in the past few years U.S. troops assumed responsibility for most of the territory previously under Polish command. A U.S. division south of Baghdad will now take over responsibility for the last Polish-led areas.

More than 20 Polish soldiers have died in Iraq, most of them in 2004, according to the website www.icasualties.org, which collates official casualty figures.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk pledged to withdraw Poland's troops from Iraq as part of his campaign last year.

The Polish troops' departure comes as violence falls to four-year lows across Iraq.

As conditions improve, Washington plans to reduce its force of around 146,000 in Iraq by 8,000 by early next year.

Some 2,000 Georgian troops -- once the biggest foreign contingent in Iraq after the United States and Britain --lively tango evenings, in 2006, when her only customers were supportive friends from Anjuna. “They all thought it was a bad idea. Assagao was pretty much unknown, a Goan village with some Westerners. Now my main customers are Indian tourists visiting Goa, many of them regularly," she says.

Seven years later, Satish Warrier relocated his reputed Hauz Khas restaurant Gunpowder to Assagao, and it has become the village’s most prominent landmark. Gunpowder remains open through the year, like many village establishments that reject the outdated season model (which considers September-February as profitable). The wait for their Toddy Shop Meen Curry and other regional coastal fare is only marginally shorter in the summer months. Warrier shares a long-time lease of the colonial-era bungalow that houses Gunpowder with friends from Delhi,