Aug 21, 2008, 14:18 GMT
Baghdad - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday said the United States and Iraq were making progress in negotiations on a security deal, but that until there was agreement on both sides, the deal could not be concluded.
Rice told a press conference after talks in Baghdad with Iraqi Premier Nuri al-Maliki that the agreement was 'excellent,' but stressed that the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) had yet to be signed.
'The US and Iraq want this to be a reflective agreement,' Rice said, adding that Iraq needed to discuss it.
The deal will lay down the legal basis for a continued US military presence in Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires in December.
Rice declined to give any timeframe, saying US troops would remain in Iraq for the time being. Iraq has pressed for a timeframe for the US troop withdrawal.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zibari, meanwhile, also spoke of progress and told journalists the agreement would state that US troops would remain in the country for a 'limited time.'
Zibari cited 'domestic reasons' for the delay in the signing of the deal, which US officials had originally hoped to conclude by July.
Rice met al-Maliki at the Iraqi cabinet building in the capital immediately after arriving for the unscheduled visit earlier Thursday.
Al-Maliki's office, in a statement said he and Rice had discussed the 'points of agreement and disagreement' of the Iraq-US security deal.
Rice had also reiterated her country's support for the Iraqi government, praising its persistence in developing and cooperating with the Arab and international community, and said the US hoped to develop ties in various fields, the statement said.
US media meanwhile reported that Rice had told reporters travelling with her to Iraq that negotiations with the Iraqis were at an advanced stage but that there was 'no reason to believe' an agreement was imminent.
Rice also said there were 'still issues concerning exactly how our forces operate.'
Rice had been expected to present Iraqi leaders with further proposals for the deal that has been the subject of negotiations between the two sides since March. Iraqi and US officials have also been hammering out the legal conditions that would apply to US soldiers under the deal.
The US has said the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq will be based on conditions on the ground while the Iraq government has demanded pullout dates.
The head of Iraq's parliamentary defence committee Hady al-Ameri was quoted in Iraq's Al-Sabah newspaper Thursday as saying the country's state security council would discuss the draft agreement at its next meeting. Lawmakers would then vote on the matter, he said. Iraq's parliament is currently in recess.
'The Iraqi and American sides have reached agreement on most of the issues, except for a few that are still outstanding,' al-Ameri was quoted as saying.
Iraq's refusal to allow US troops to remain in Iraq in the long- run was a demand 'of the people and not the government,' he said.
Iraq's Diyala province is also the scene of a crackdown aimed at flushing out members of the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Last month, Iraqi forces launched the Baashaer al-Kheir or 'Promise of Good' operation to track down members of the network.
The operation followed the weakening of al-Qaeda's former strongholds in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province.
Rice last visited Iraq in late April and praised al-Maliki for his security efforts and his policy to boost national reconciliation. On Thursday, she flew into Iraq from Poland where she had signed an agreement with her counterpart on setting up a US missile shield on Polish soil.
Rice and al-Maliki had been expected on Thursday to touch on the matter of security problems in Diyala province north of Baghdad, where tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims remain high.
Al-Maliki on Tuesday ordered an investigation into a crackdown by Iraqi special forces and US forces in Diyala that included a raid on the Diyala provincial government headquarters in which the secretary to Diyala's governor was killed. Several provincial council members were also arrested.
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