WASHINGTON - Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in a US television interview to be aired Friday that neither he nor the United States can set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.
"Anything specific I cannot give, neither us nor the US government can set up a timetable," ABC News quoted Maliki as saying in an interview with the network's correspondent in Baghdad.
Maliki has previously insisted that Iraqi security forces were ready to take over security from US troops by this summer, but told ABC News he would not rule out US troops being in Iraq in five years time.
"It all depends on the success and the agreements between us. ... Neither we nor the US government want to lose all the progress we have made," Maliki was quoted as saying.
He said that if the United States were to withdraw too soon, Iraq could be plunged into civil war, the report said.
"When we can establish security ... then our security forces will be ready through training to take over," he was quoted as saying.
Maliki seemed unfazed by the mounting pressure in the US Congress for a US withdrawal because of the lack of progress toward political reconciliation between Shiites and Sunnis.
"I don't think there is a correlation between the presence of US forces and the Iraqi parliament," he said.
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