Iraqi PM, Bush agree to speed up security training

BAGHDAD, Oct 28 (Reuters) Iraq's prime minister and US President George W Bush agreed to accelerate efforts to build up Iraqi security forces during a teleconference today that capped a week of public tensions between the two governments.

''There are no strains in the relationship,'' White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters at Andrews Air Force Base in the United States after the 50-minute teleconference.

''The president is very happy, actually, with the way the prime minister is working.'' Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his US backers have been struggling to bring stability to Iraq more than three years after a US-led invasion. Sectarian violence kills around 100 people a day and political wrangling is hampering reforms.

''We have agreed to speed up the training of Iraqi security forces in order to move the security responsibility to the Iraqi government,'' Maliki's office said in a joint statement after the video conference.

Maliki was angered this week when US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad seemed to assure impatient American voters that the Iraqi leader was following a US-backed timetable of performance ''benchmarks''. He hit back with a declaration that no one could impose timetables on Iraq.

Yesterday, Maliki and Khalilzad papered over the cracks with a joint statement after a meeting, saying the Iraqi government had ''timelines'' for political developments -- employing the word at the heart of the debate.

Snow said the two leaders talked about Maliki's desire to move forward on political reconciliation in his country, which is plagued by sectarian violence. Some US lawmakers have urged Bush to boost pressure on the Iraqi government to rein in militias and take other steps to counter the violence.

Building an effective Iraqi security force is a key plank in Bush's plans for an eventual withdrawal of 140,000 US troops.

Maliki told Reuters on Thursday he could get violence under control in six months if US forces gave his forces more weapons and responsibility. A top US general said this week it could take 12 or 18 months for Iraqi forces to be ready to take responsibility for the whole country.

Maliki said in today's statement that a committee had been formed to speed up training of Iraqi forces. Iraq's national security adviser, defence minister and interior minister will sit on the committee along with the top US commander in Iraq, General George Casey, and ambassador Khalilzad.

REUTERS PB RK2028