Iraq, US 'close' to troop deal

21/08/2008| IslamWeb

The United States and Iraq are close to reaching an agreement on the future of US forces in Iraq, Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, has said.

Speaking at a news conference with Hoshyar Zebari, her Iraqi counterpart, in Baghdad on Thursday, she said the two sides had agreed on a timetable for US troops to leave the country.

Zebari said: "What we have accomplished - this agreement is the most advanced version of any so far strategic agreement between the United States and any other country in the world."

"This issue as you know is also a sensitive issue, that deals with sovereignty, that deals with Iraqi interests [and] stability in the region."

According to US and Iraqi sources, the deal calls for US soldiers to withdraw from Iraqi cities by the end of next June.

They would remain on bases across the country, however, providing back up support to Iraqi forces until the end of 2011, according to reports.

Other issues that need to be sorted out include immunity for US troops from Iraqi law and the status of prisoners held by American forces.

Contentious issues

Al Jazeera's Tom Ackerman said that with Iraqis facing provincial elections in the next few months, Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, will be facing pressure at home not to concede anything that will affect Iraqi sovereignty and to ensure a firm end date for US troop withdrawal is set.

In May this year, scores of protests against any such deal erupted in Baghdad, led by Muqtada al-Sadr, the Iraqi Shia leader.

At present around 144,000 US troops are stationed in Iraq.

 

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US soldiers

Al-Jazeera