Visiting Iraqi President Jala Talabani said on Thursday in Paris that he could not envisage the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq for at least two or three years.

Iraq needed time, "some years, not 30 years," for Iraqi forces to be capable of ensuring the security in Iraq, Talabani told a conference in the French Institute of International Relations in Paris on Thursday.

"I personally think that two or three years would be enough to rebuild our forces and to say 'bye bye and thank you' to our friends," said the president, who arrived in Paris late Wednesday for a three-day official visit.

Talabani's comments came after the remarks by the U.S. military commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, that the Iraqi armed forces would be able to safeguard the country within 12 to 18 months.

Talabani also expressed his wish to turn over a page of France's disagreement with the U.S.-led war which broke out in 2003 and toppled Saddam Hussein's regime.

"The goal of this visit is to endow a new momentum in the bilateral relations," Talabani said, appealing to French people to look at his country with "a new eye."

Talabani was set to meet with French President Jacques Chirac later in the day.

Source: Xinhua