Iraq's political parties will decide within two weeks what their position is on the possibility of US troops remaining in the country beyond the end of 2011, President Jalal Talabani said on Saturday.
"All parties have discussed the matter, and we have all agreed that each one will… give its final response within two weeks," Talabani said after a meeting with political blocs at the presidential palace.
Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurds said they do not want to see American troops depart, while radical anti-American cleric Moqtada Sadr has threatened to reactivate his Mahdi Army militia if they stay.
The other parties attending the meeting did not announce any stance on the issue.
About 46,000 US troops remain in Iraq, but the entire force is due to leave by December 31 under a security agreement with Baghdad.
But top US officials have said that they would consider keeping some troops there after the deadline if requested by Iraqi authorities.
On Thursday, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, confirmed that the United States and Iraq are negotiating a possible new security deal that would keep US forces in the country beyond December 31.
"The negotiations are ongoing and it's hard," Mullen told reporters.
He said the discussions were addressing both the size of a possible US military mission as well as the capabilities that Iraqi forces lacked.
"There are very clear capability gaps the Iraqis are going to have," said Mullen, citing air power, air defence and intelligence analysis.
"And both the Iraqi security forces and our forces recognise those gaps are there," he said.
How those gaps would be addressed is "at the heart of the discussions and negotiations which are ongoing as we speak," the admiral added.
