By Gavin Jones -November 12, 200
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said on Saturday that it may be possible to reach an agreement by the end of 2006 on the withdrawal of foreign troops from his country.
Speaking to reporters in Rome at the end of a week-long visit to Italy, Talabani said the Iraqis were training their police and soldiers to try to create the conditions for foreign troops to be able to leave.
"We are looking forward to the day we can say goodbye to the forces of the coalition," he said. "If things continue as they are I think by the end of 2006 we can discuss the end of the presence of foreign troops."
Talabani said he did not wish to discuss the question in more detail "because I don't want to give the impression to the terrorists that they have won."
Iraq's Shi'ite and Kurdish-led government and its U.S. backers are battling a Sunni Arab insurgency that has killed thousands of people since the March 2003 U.S-led invasion.
Talabani said the violence was delaying the withdrawal of foreign troops and was not caused by their presence.
"The terrorists have declared war on the Iraqi people, not the forces of the coalition," he said.
Turning to Iraqi elections to be held in April next year, Talabani, an Iraqi Kurd, said he expected the Shi'ite coalition would be the largest force, followed by the Kurdistan Alliance, but that no party would win an outright majority.
Talabani thanked Italy for its military presence in Iraq, and said he had received guarantees from opposition leader Romano Prodi that if he wins the April 2006 election, as expected, he would not hastily withdraw Italy's 2,900 troops.
"Italy's opposition leaders promised that if they won any withdrawal would be gradual, programmed and agreed with the Iraqi government," Talabani said.
The centre-left opposed Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's decision to send troops to Iraq. However, asked if there was now any difference between Berlusconi's and Prodi's positions on withdrawal, the Iraqi president replied: "Not very much."