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WASHINGTON - US forces could begin withdrawing from Iraqi cities as early as June under a draft agreement reached between US and Iraqi negotiators, a senior US military official said Thursday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the agreement on the status of US forces in Iraq still awaited final approval.
But the official said that under the draft agreement a withdrawal of US forces from Iraqi cities "could be as early as June, conditions permitting."
He would not comment directly on reports that it also calls for US combat troops to be out of Iraq by 2011, saying that the two sides negotiated "time horizons" and "general aspirations."
"The balance we're trying to reach is between Iraq's stated desire to have a more concrete view of US forces levels out through the years, and our desire it be based on conditions on the ground," the official said.
The US military has long hoped to move US forces from the cities into an "overwatch" role coupled with training and advising of Iraqi forces, but that goal has been stymied repeatedly in the past by escalating violence.
Over the past year, however, levels of violence have plummeted with the presence of US surge forces, a turnabout in the Sunni insurgency, and subsiding ethnic conflict.
US commanders have remained cautious about the durability of the downturn, however.
The future role of the US military has been at the center of the months-long negotiations over the status of forces agreement, which has dealt with such thorny issue as who has legal jurisdiction over US troops or civilian contractors.
"The United States is comfortable we're going to have the right jurisdiction," said the military official.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a visit to Baghdad, said the two sides were "very, very close" to a deal.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, however, went a step farther and said the text of the agreement was ready and the draft would be presented on Friday to the Political Council for National Security, a strategic body of Iraqi leaders.
"I don't think there are sticking points any more that they have reached agreement on a draft," the military official said.
- AFP /ls
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