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Iraq close to security agreement with US: foreign minister
Geneva (AFP) Sept 13, 2008 The United States and Iraq are nearing an accord which could pave the way for large-scale US troop withdrawals by 2011, Iraq's foreign minister said Saturday. "We have a single text, a final draft" of a US-Iraqi security agreement, Hoshyar Zebari told journalists on the sidelines of an international security conference in Geneva. "It is up to the political leadership now to make a political decision," he said, adding that the talks had been hard, but friendly and cooperative. If security continues to improve, this could see US and other foreign troops off the streets of Iraqi cities from the middle of next year and a "major deployment" such as a withdrawal by 2011, the minister said. However he stressed that there was no fixed timetable and that any decision would be "condition-led, and condition-driven". "We are not talking about a fixed timetable. We are talking about a time horizon, timeline, aspirational date," Zebari said. Some foreign troops would stay in Iraq for training purposes and counter-terrorism operations, he added. The minister insisted that "Al-Qaeda is on the run in Iraq" thanks to the US "surge" strategy, a marked improvement in Iraq's own security forces and the so-called "Awakening" movement of local Sunni chiefs turning against the insurgents. But he warned that these gains are not "solid" and require political nurturing if they are to be sustained. The minister's comments come days after the US military commander in Iraq warned that political discord between Iraqi leaders and a resurgence of Al-Qaeda and Shiite extremism could still torpedo progress. General David Petraeus told AFP in an interview on Thursday that Iraq's divided leaders who are "wrestling fundamental issues of high magnitude" could still ruin security gains. "A resurgence of Al-Qaeda, return of special groups (Shiite extremist cells) in some form and potential political discord turning into violence on the ground" could erase these gains, he said. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Share This Article With Planet Earth
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