U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have abandoned efforts to conclude a comprehensive agreement governing the long-term status of U.S. troops in Iraq before the end of the Bush presidency, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.
The talks on an extended U.S. military presence in Iraq will effectively fall to the next U.S. president after President George W. Bush leaves the White House in January 2009, the report quoted unidentified senior U.S. officials as saying.
The failure of months of negotiations deals a blow to the Bush administration's plan to leave in place a formal military architecture in Iraq that could last for years, the Washington Post said.
Although Bush has repeatedly rejected calls for a troop withdrawal timeline, "we are talking about dates," acknowledged one U.S. official close to the negotiations.
Iraqi political leaders "are all telling us the same thing. They need something like this in there....Iraqis want to know that foreign troops are not going to be here forever."
The Bush administration announced in 2007 that it will formulate a so-called "status of force" agreement with Iraq to formalize relations between the two nations.
The UN authorization for U.S. troop presence will expire by the end of the year and Iraqis will not seek an extension.
The United States and Iraq are reportedly expected to finalize the long-term security pact by the end of July. Although the White House has said the pact will fully respect Iraq's sovereignty, it has been criticized by Democrats who allege that the Bush administration seeks to establish permanent military bases in Iraq.
(Xinhua News Agency July 14, 2008)
