TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - The United States remains opposed to setting an "arbitrary" date for withdrawing troops from Iraq, the White House said on Wednesday after Iraqi officials called for a timetable as part of a security agreement being negotiated with Washington.
"We have always been opposed and remain so to an arbitrarywithdrawal date," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said toreporters traveling with President George W. Bush in Japan.
The United States believes those decisions should be "basedon conditions on the ground" and Iraqi officials agree withthat, she said.
Iraq's national security adviser on Tuesday said Iraq wouldnot accept any security agreement with the United States unlessit included dates for the withdrawal of foreign forces. But thegovernment's spokesman said any timetable would depend onsecurity conditions on the ground.
Their differences underscored the debate in Baghdad overthe security pact with Washington that will provide a legalbasis for U.S. troops to remain when a U.N. mandate expires atthe end of the year
The White House said the statements from Iraqi officialsabout a timetable for troop withdrawal partly reflectedimprovements in the security situation in Iraq.
"I think that is a reflection of first and foremost thepositive developments that we've seen recently in Iraq, but inaddition to that, the negotiations are intensifying," Perinosaid.
"This is about their future and they want to take on moreof their own responsibility, and we want that too," she said.
Perino said she would not put a timetable on when thesecurity agreement might be completed.
"We want to be able to try to work this out quickly and themain reason that we want this is because our troops are goingto be there past the end of this year, that's a fact," shesaid.
(Reporting by Tabassum Zakaria; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
