WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said on Tuesday that Iraq will not set a timetable for a withdrawal of American troops, which is slightly different from his earlier saying that the United States could pull out 50,000 troops by the end of the year.

    "We will set no timetable for withdrawal. A timetable will help the terrorists, will encourage them that they could defeat a superpower of the world and Iraqi people," Talabani told a press conference after talks with US President George W. Bush at the White House.

    "We hope that by the end of 2006 our security forces are up to the level of taking responsibility from many American troops with complete agreement with the Americans," Talabani said.

    "We don't want to do anything without the agreement with the Americans because we don't want to give any signal to the terrorists that our will to defeat them is weakened."

    The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Talabani said in an interview that the United States could withdraw as many as 50,000 troops by the end of the year, declaring there are enough Iraqi forces trained and ready to begin assuming control in cities throughout the country.

    "We think that American has the full right to move some forces from Iraq to their country because I think we can replace them (with) our forces.

    "In my opinion, at least from 40,000 to 50,000 American troops can be (withdrawn) by the end of this year," Talabani was quoted as saying.

    Talabani even said that he believed the United States could begin pulling out some troops immediately.

    The assessment made by Talabani before his Tuesday talks with Bush is apparently different from those offered by Bush and by US military commanders in Iraq.

    The Bush administration has been carefully avoiding to set a timetable for reducing the number of US troops in Iraq, currently about 140,000, and the Pentagon plans to maintain or slightly increase the force level in anticipation of an Oct. 15 referendum on Iraq's new constitution.

    White House officials say that Bush's strategy for eventually withdrawing troops depends on Iraqis' approving the constitution and holding successful elections in December. Enditem