By Patrick Worsnip

UNITED NATIONS, June 13 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council reaffirmed on Wednesday the mandate of the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq after Baghdad's foreign minister said Iraqi forces could not yet deal alone with insurgents.

Late last year, the council renewed the force's mandate until the end of 2007, but it was subject to a midyear review.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told the council the force remained "vitally important," both by supplying "additional strength of arms whenever the need exceeds the capacity of Iraq's" own forces, and by providing training.

While Baghdad looked forward to the day when the international troops could leave, "until that day, Iraq continues to need the support of the MNF to assist in providing a secure environment for the Iraqi people," he said.

Security Council President Johan Verbeke of Belgium said in a statement, "As requested by the government of Iraq ... the members of the council agreed upon the continuation of the (multinational force) mandate."

More than 20 countries contribute to the multinational force, but the bulk are from the United States, whose troops number some 155,000.

Over 3,500 U.S. troops have died since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Last month was the third worst for U.S. military deaths, which totaled 122, while nearly 2,000 Iraqi civilians were killed, according to Iraqi estimates.

Speakers at Wednesday's debate sought to highlight hopeful signs. Zebari said the number of Iraqi army and police recruits continued to rise despite targeting by insurgents, and a drive by sectarian militias to "ethnically cleanse" Baghdad neighborhoods was "beginning to be reversed."

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, formerly Washington's envoy in Baghdad, said that while attacks on coalition forces were still frequent, those against civilians and sectarian murders in Baghdad had decreased since January.

The U.N. special representative for Iraq, Ashraf Qazi of Pakistan, said, however, that "progress has been slower and more uncertain than had been hoped for" and benchmarks for movement toward national reconciliation had not been met.

"The international community cannot allow itself to become a spectator of the unfolding crises in Iraq," Qazi said, adding it had "an inescapable moral obligation" to help the Iraqi government in its efforts to create stability.

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