In Turkey, those opposed to the troop deployment protested around Istanbul while its main Kurdish party, the Democratic People's Party, denounced the decision, describing it has having "brought Turkey to the edge of war."
But Washington welcomed the move, which US officials hope will ease the strain on their forces, facing almost daily casualties amid rising skepticism among Americans about the war.
Meanwhile, the US faced a new setback at the UN as its draft resolution on Iraq appeared to have been put on hold after criticism from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
A disagreement over how soon Iraqis could take political control of their country and how big a UN role might be during that transition led Annan to come out against the US proposal last week, in remarks that galvanized its opponents.
"People are telling us that basically, if you're going to go around with a tin cup, you need to show a little humility," a US official said in Washington.
"The official line is that we're looking at all the options but the feeling here is that the resolution is dead," the official said.
The US now appears unable to muster the Security Council votes needed to pass the resolution, which it had hoped could convince other nations to contribute cash and troops for Iraq.
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