Iraq to negotiate continued US troop presence
Iraq's political leaders have given the government the green light to begin negotiating a deal with the US to keep American troops in the country past the end of the year to train Iraqi security forces.
But Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Tuesday that a final agreement is still far from settled, and cautioned that Baghdad could still insist the US military leave by the end of 2011 as required under a 2008 security agreement. "The government still might not do it (allow US troops to stay)," Zebari told The Associated Press after the closed-door discussions. (AP)
