But Mr. Nuaimi said he did not favor an American troop pullout yet.

But this may be less likely now than it was at the time of the Soviet troop pullout.

If any troop pullout takes place in the coming months, "it would be so cosmetic that it would be meaningless," he said.

Specifically, it cited the promised Soviet troop pullout from Afghanistan.

But they said they were leery of legislating a troop pullout to begin within four months.

Russia has announced its promised troop pullout from Georgia is complete.

It inconceivable, they asserted, for anyone to doubt that a troop pullout would lead to chaos and violence in Iraq.

Talks about a troop pullout from the disputed territory, Siachen Glacier, looked close to completion recently, only to become bogged down in details.

He also supports continued U.S. military involvement in Iraq and opposed any "rapid troop pullout".

They have been at pains to leave some uncertainty over whether such an arrangement is a prerequisite for completion of the troop pullout.