BEIJING, Nov. 22 -- Leaders of Iraq's sharply divided Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis have agreed there should be a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country.

    Meeting in the Egyptian capital Cairo, they also agreed that although resistance was a right, all acts of terror should be condemned.

    After three days of negotiations, the participants in an Arab League national accord conference issued a final statement, as Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa made the announcement:

    "We request the withdrawal of the foreign forces according to a timetable, which will be achieved by starting an immediate national programme to re-establishing a military that is trained, prepared and armed that is qualified to protect the borders, maintain the security situation and the safety of citizen and nation."

    However, the Bush administration has resisted rising domestic calls for a withdrawal timetable.

    In Washington, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says commanders' assessments will determine the pace of any military drawdown.

    He said the US-led coalition continues to make progress in training Iraqi security forces, which he placed at 212 thousand.

    US Democrat Congressman John Murtha, has been calling for the withdrawal of all US troops within six months, saying the US cannot accomplish anything further in Iraq.

    "The president should be furious with the people who work for him giving him bad intelligence. We spend more on intelligence than any country in the world. We spend more on intelligence than the whole world spends together and our intelligence was wrong."

    About 160,000 US troops are now stationed in Iraq. More than 2000 US soldiers have died there since the US invasion in 2003.

(Source: CRIENGLISH.com)