By June 2007 Iraqi forces will be able to take responsibility for security in the country, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in an interview with ABC on Thursday.

 

"I cannot answer on behalf of the US administration but I can tell you that from our side our forces will be ready by June 2007," Maliki told ABC television after meeting US President George W. Bush on Thursday in Jordan.

 

 

Maliki made the remarks in answering a question about whether US troops could start withdrawing at that time.

 

Also on Thursday, US national security advisor Stephen Hadley was reported to have told reporters that Bush will make a decision on Iraq policy in "weeks rather than months."

 

"I think probably it's going to be weeks rather than months. It's going to be when the president is comfortable," Hadley told reporters on Air Force One.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 1, 2006)