US President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki have agreed on a "time horizon" rather than a timeline for US troop withdrawal from Iraq. In the area of security cooperation, the president and the prime minister agreed that improving conditions would allow for the agreements now under negotiation to include a general time horizon for meeting aspirational goals. These goals include turning over more control to Iraqi security forces and the further reduction of US combat troops in Iraq.
Prior to the timeline agreement, there was talk about a stalemate in negotiation as a result of several disagreements. Iraqis were insisting on a specific US troops withdrawal schedule, while the US was refusing to give one.
Al Maliki told Arab ambassadors during his last visit to the UAE that he was striving to set a withdrawal timeline for US troops in Iraq, but his statements were rejected by the US president himself after a short while in a televised statement.
All that was published about the US-Iraqi agreement implied the geographical meaning of the term "horizon", in that the horizon is never reached. Setting a "time horizon" is a vague idea.
America has used arm-twisting tactics in dealing with this issue, as it declared that it had reached an undefined long-term strategic agreement with Iraq (which is yet to be signed), without a serious reference to the duration of the agreement, nor a timeline for troop withdrawal.
This event coincided with a partial and careful opening up of the US to Iran, where Saeed Jalili, the country's chief nuclear negotiator, attended a meeting with European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, who represented the Group 5+1 in talks over Iran's nuclear issue.
US Undersecretary of State William Burns was also present at the meeting.
"No word was mentioned about suspension. What happened in Geneva were discussions about the two sides' approach to the nuclear talks and their timing," Jalili told reporters who asked if the issue of suspending Iran's nuclear activities was raised during the talks.
Deadline
Commenting on a reported two-week deadline for Iran, Jalili said, "Based on a preliminary agreement, they presented us an offer for the resumption of nuclear talks and we also had an initiative to this end. The two sides are expected to consider the issue for two weeks and comment about it."
Jalili added that "good discussions" were held about how to proceed with the nuclear talks.
Nevertheless, there might be an agreement on the issue of opening a US interests office in Iran after diplomatic ties between the two countries were severed almost three decades ago.
The US needs to contain Iranian opposition to the agreement being drawn up, as it is aware of Iranian influence in Iraq. The Administration also needs to assure the American public that it is seeking a diplomatic solution to the problem.
Iraq and the US have their own outlook towards the agreement.
The two US presidential candidates used this issue in their election campaigns. Republican candidate John McCain was lagging behind his Democratic rival Barack Obama until Bush struck the "horizon" deal, which outsmarted the Democratic candidate's promise of withdrawing troops in 16 months.
The Iraqi side also made use of the deal, despite statements issued in Germany's Der Spiegel magazine where Al Maliki said he supported US presidential candidate Obama's plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq within 16 months. When asked in an interview by Der Spiegel when he thought US troops should leave Iraq, Al Maliki responded "as soon as possible, as far as we are concerned".
He continued: "US presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes."
However, the Iraqi prime minister's office disowned the statement the very next day.
Dr Mohammad Akef Jamal is an Iraqi writer based in Dubai.
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