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US agreed troop pullout deal: Iraq BAGHDAD — The United States asked Iraq for permission to keep troops there to 2015 but compromised with Iraqi negotiators on 2011, President Jalal Talabani said. The bilateral security pact negotiations underscore the Iraqi government’s increasing assertiveness in seeking to define the future of the US presence. “It was a US proposal for the date which is 2015, and an Iraqi one which is 2010, then we agreed to make it 2011,” Talabani said in an interview with Al-Hurra TV, a transcript of which was posted on his party’s website yesterday. “Iraq has the right, if necessary, to extend the presence of these troops,” Talabani said from the United States, where he has been recovering from heart surgery this month. The anticipated pact will provide a legal basis for US troops to remain in Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires at the end of this year.US officials said that the negotiations, although close to conclusion, continue, and declined comment on the specifics of Talabani’s statements. “As we’ve said, negotiations are ongoing and we are not going to get into the details until an agreement is concluded,” an embassy official in Baghdad said. — Reuters