WASHINGTON, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Former Rep. Lee Hamilton, co-chair of the Iraq Study Group, said on Monday that the Iraqi government is far from "resolving sectarian differences" and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has underperformed.

    In an interview with NBC's "Today Show", he said that Iraq's forces will not be able to provide the complete security for the country any time soon.

    "These Iraqi forces that we have been training now for several years simply have not measured up overall," Hamilton said, adding that it would take "a remarkable bit of progress in a very short period of time for them to meet the prime minister's goals" of allowing Iraq's forces to take over security by the end of the year.

    Hamilton was highly critical of Maliki, claiming that "He's known exactly what he has to do; he hasn't done it. His rhetoric is pretty good; his performance is pretty bad."

    The Iraqi parliament "has been a huge disappointment all along" and is "not dealing with the fundamental problems of the country," Hamilton said.

    In particular, Hamilton criticized the Bush administration for giving Iraq a satisfactory rating on the issue in last week's assessment report on the country's progress.

    "What they have actually done is create a committee to look at it," Hamilton said.

    "Now, creating a committee is a matter of process. It is not a matter of result. It is not close to resolving the sectarian differences that are required to bring about national reconciliation," he said.

    Hamilton was making the accusation at a time when the Bush administration is under growing pressure from lawmakers of both the Republican and Democratic parties to change the Iraq policy.

    Democrats said they will try again this week to set a timetable to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.