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Washington: US and Iraqi negotiators have agreed on a draft security pact that would govern the presence of American troops in Iraq after January, Bush administration officials say, but its final approval is far from certain.
The draft calls for US troops to pull out of Iraqi cities by the end of June next year and leave Iraq by December 31, 2011, unless the Baghdad government asks them to stay.
It also includes a compromise on the biggest bone of contention: legal immunity for American forces, according to the officials.
The draft, reached after months of halting and often tense talks, contains elements that are expected to further aggravate an already difficult effort to get the Iraqi government and parliament on board, the officials said.
It also may draw objections from US lawmakers, whose support is not legally required but is considered essential to the eventual success of any deal, according to the officials.
However, the negotiating teams have decided they cannot improve on the proposal and have sent it to higher-ups for a political decision as time runs out on both the Bush administration and the UN mandate under which US troops now operate, which expires on December 31, they say.
Without an agreement soon, the officials said Tuesday that the two sides will have to begin to look more seriously at alternatives that include extending the UN authority, which is fraught with complications.
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