BAGHDAD — American and Iraqi officials are close to a draft agreement to see U.S. forces conditionally withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011, though both sides warned Thursday that political hurdles to a final settlement remain.
The current version of the deal would set a conditional time frame for U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraqi cities by next June and for combat troops to leave the country two years later.
But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki in Baghdad's fortress-like Green Zone, downplayed expectations that approval of an agreement was imminent.
"We'll have agreement when we have agreement," Rice told reporters, addressing speculation that a deal was near.
Rice and Maliki huddled for 2 1/2 hours, trying to iron out differences in the pact, which would govern the presence of U.S. forces here after their United Nations mandate expires in December.
Iraq's foreign minister warned that Iraqi politicians must still approve any deal, cautioning that previous drafts had been touted as complete, only for one side or the other to find fault.
"We've been through this before, but we've never been this close," Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told The Times.
Zebari said the draft would be reviewed by the prime minister and other top government leaders tonight or during the weekend.
If senior leaders endorse the deal, it would go before the political council for national security and then to parliament for a final vote, Zebari said. In the past, items endorsed by senior leaders, including a national oil law, have never been voted on in parliament or have been delayed for months.
An aide to Maliki said that the differences with the U.S. were minor and that they hoped to close the deal before the end of the year.
"They tried to resolve some issues," the aide said. "They tried to find some compromise formula to some points. It's too early to say they reached an agreement on all issues."
A senior member of Maliki's ruling coalition, Shiite lawmaker Sheik Jalaluddin Saghir, said the sides had still not agreed on all the issues.
"I believe they are struggling," he said. "It is thorny, but there is a little progress."
U.S. and Iraqi officials had aimed to reach a deal by the end of July.
Saghir said that the Americans wanted their forces to stay one year more than the Iraqis wanted. Maliki has publicly favored a withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of 2010, a timeline for withdrawal that roughly corresponds with that proposed by Sen. Barack Obama.
