Washington  - Any withdrawals of US soldiers from Iraq will be based on the security conditions on the ground, the US State Department said Tuesday, despite the Iraqi government's demands for pullout dates.

"We want to withdraw - we will withdraw," Gonzalo Gallegos, a department spokesman, said. "However, that decision will be conditions-based."

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his national security advisor, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, have said any agreement establishing the legal basis for the continued American presence must includes withdrawal timeframes.

"We can't have an agreement unless it has clear dates determining the departure of foreign forces," al-Rubaie told reporters Tuesday in the Iraqi holy Shiite city of al-Najaf.

The United States and Iraq have been in negotiations for months to establish a security agreement that could keep a longterm US deployment in Iraq. The negotiations would also address the legal conditions that would apply to US soldiers.

US officials hope to complete Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA, with the Iraqis by the end of this month, and well ahead of the UN mandate that expires at the end of the year. SOFAs are standard agreements used by Washington and govern the deployment of US forces abroad in countries like Germany, Japan and South Korea.

Al-Maliki has signalled he would prefer a shorter term arrangement and suggested the agreement could be completed under a memorandum of understanding rather than a more rigid SOFA.

Al-Maliki's government is concerned about the unpopularity of security agreement with the United States that would keep US troops in Iraq, and that it could undermine the country's sovereignty.

Al-Maliki spoke out against unsuccessful efforts by US lawmakers to attach withdrawal timeframes to funding for the war. President George W Bush rejected the deadlines. (dpa)