Biden: US will follow Iraq wishes on troop pullout

BAGHDAD — Vice President Joe Biden pledged Thursday to follow Iraq’s wishes should Baghdad decide to speed up the timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from the country.

Speaking to reporters in Baghdad before heading to northern Iraq to meet with Kurdish leaders, Biden said, however, that there were still a number of steps that would have to be taken before Iraq could call a referendum to alter the so-called “status of forces” agreement.

The agreement currently calls for the withdrawal of American combat forces by the end of August 2010 and all U.S. troops by the end of the following year.

Parliament approved the agreement in November on condition that it is put to a vote in a national referendum. The Iraqi government has agreed to hold the referendum in conjunction with parliamentary elections in January. If voters reject the agreement in the referendum, U.S. forces would have a year to withdraw instead of by the end of 2011.

Biden, the White House’s point man in Iraq, said upon his arrival in Baghdad on Tuesday that Iraqi leaders had indicated to him that the referendum was “likely to happen,” but added the caveat, “I’m not sure it’s settled yet.”

“Whatever the Iraqi people decide, we will abide by it,” Biden told reporters Thursday.

Biden is on a three-day trip to Iraq, his third this year, and has been meeting with local leaders to discuss issues including bridging lingering political and sectarian differences and plans for January’s national elections.

Following meetings with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Wednesday, Biden said the two had talked about the agreement governing the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, but he did not elaborate and took no questions.

Biden had lunch with American troops at Camp Liberty on Thursday before heading north for meetings with Kurdish officials.

As the number of bombings and other attacks declines elsewhere in Iraq, violence has persisted in the north, which remains a battleground between Sunni Arab extremists and Iraqi and U.S. forces. Kurdish-Arab tension there also frequently flares into violence.

A senior American official with knowledge of Biden’s talks in Iraq said both the vice president and Iraqi officials agreed that the overall security situation is much better than last year but that as progress is made those opposing stability will try harder spark sectarian violence. The official insisted on anonymity as a condition for speaking to reporters.

The Kurds have been locked in bitter disagreement with Iraq’s central government over control of oil and disputed territory in other parts of northern Iraq, particularly the city of Kirkuk. The Kurdish region gained autonomy after rising up against former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in 1991.

Wrapping up his visit, Biden said in a joint press conference in Irbil with Massoud Barazani, the president of the semiautonomous Kurdish region, that Barazani was “negotiating in good faith with the central government” to resolve outstanding issues.

“We know these are difficult issues,” Biden said. “If they weren’t, they would have been resolved a long time ago.”

Barazani said Kurdish leaders assured Biden of “our obligation to solve all these problems within the framework of the Iraqi constitution.”

The tensions have stalled a national oil law considered vital to encouraging foreign investment. U.S. officials have warned that Arab-Kurdish tensions could erupt into a new front in the Iraq conflict and jeopardize security gains elsewhere.

Biden said a new oil law is still not in sight.

The administration official said Biden made clear that the next round of bidding on oil concessions should be made on more generous terms to attract more outside interest.

Only one of eight deals up for bidding earlier this year was taken. The official said even one other deal would mean $50 billion to $60 billion in additional investment in Iraq, $600 million in additional annual revenue, and tens of thousands of additional jobs.

Associated Press Writer Yahya Barzanji contributed to this report from Irbil.