Insurgency in Iraq is 'very serious': Powell

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the insurgents can be defeated by raising Iraqi forces soon.

Describing the insurgency in Iraq as "very serious", US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the insurgents can be defeated by raising Iraqi forces soon and providing them with logistical and other support.

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"If we can build up the Iraqi forces fast enough to take over from us, and if we can support them with logistics as well as may be some continued presence, then there is no reason this isn't defeatable," Powell, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told 'Paris Match' in an interview released by the State Department on Thursday.

Vietnam "was a case where we didn't have a clear enough strategy," he said, adding US has a clear strategy in Iraq.

Powell revealed for the first time that he strongly recommended to President George W Bush to go to war against the Taliban in Afghanistan first before going to war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq while others were urging that he move against Iraq first. He claimed "most of the time" Bush listened to his advice.

Asked whether it is not frustrating to go all the way to the top as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and resign, and go ahead all the way to the top as the Secretary of State and resign again, Powell responded: "No, this is life."

"I don't need to go higher," said Powell. "I just need to have work that is satisfying and that is contributing. I did not lobby to become National Security Advisor. I did not lobby to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and I did not ask to become Secretary of State."

Powell said he has no desire to run for elective office.