Say Anything Blog

U.S., Iraq reach draft agreement on troop withdrawal

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq and the U.S. have reached preliminary agreement to withdraw American forces from Iraqi cities by next June, six years into the increasingly unpopular war, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Thursday after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The negotiations over a withdrawal timetable follow long insistence by U.S. President George W. Bush that setting any schedule for U.S. troops to leave would be dangerous. The draft agreement with Iraq would link troop reductions to achievement of certain security milestones, although the details have not been made public.

Time has become ever more important in discussions between U.S. and Iraqi officials with the Bush administration heading into its final months and American presidential candidates tussling daily over how and when they would move to end the war.