Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said on Thursday he did not envisage US-led forces withdrawing from his country before two to three years, despite a US call for them to leave in half the time.
"We think that we need time, not 30 years, but we need some years" for Iraqi forces to be ready to take over security nation-wide, he told a conference in Paris, at the start of a state visit to France.
"I personally can say between two to three years would be enough to rebuild our security forces and to ask our friends, to tell them 'Bye Bye' dear friends, with our thanks to you," he said.
Talabani met his French counterpart on Thursday afternoon for hour-long talks in which Jacques Chirac assured him of his "full support" in Iraq's battle against rising sectarian and insurgent violence.
"Mr Chirac confirmed that in this difficult time for Iraq, France gives its full support to the policy of national reconciliation, of inclusive dialogue and action in favour of Iraqi unity and reconstruction," his spokesman said.
Chirac said France also believes "it is important to have the perspective of a withdrawal" of foreign troops, without commenting specifically on a timetable, according to his spokesman Jerome Bonnafont.
Talabani's comments clashed with those of the US military commander in Iraq, General George Casey, who said last week Iraq's armed forces should be able to take on responsibility for security within the next 12 to 18 months.
On Tuesday, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld endorsed a proposal by Iraqi and US military commanders to increase the size of the Iraqi security forces beyond 325,000 and accelerate their training.
The tide of violence in Iraq has forced the United States to keep more troops than planned in Iraq to bolster its troubled security forces to 150,000, and the length of their deployment is a source of heated debate at home.
Though he insisted he was "not here to give you a rosy picture," Talabani earlier gave a fairly upbeat assessment of the security situation in Iraq.
"On the whole, there is no civil war," he said, blaming "gangs and extremists" for the continuing sectarian bloodshed. "Our new democracy is under attack by a minority," he insisted.
Talabani called earlier for France to turn the page on the rift sparked by its opposition to the 2003 US-led invasion and for Paris and Baghdad to revive their once-close economic and political ties.
"The aim of this visit is to give a strong impetus to the relations between our two countries," he told the Paris conference, calling on French people "to look at Iraq with a fresh eye".
"The new Iraq will rest on the values of liberty, equality and fraternity," he vowed in a reference to the French national motto.
"France can invest more in the new Iraq," said Talabani, who met earlier with leaders of the French oil giant Total. He insisted that Iraq's "economy has been liberated" and was now "fertile ground for investment".
Talabani praised late former French president Francois Mitterrand for his support for Iraq's Kurds under threat from Saddam after the 1990-1991 Gulf War, and thanked Chirac for France's help in the current reconstruction process.
But in a humorous sideswipe at opponents of the 2003 US-led war, the former Kurdish opposition leader also added: "Without this war, perhaps you wouldn't see me here as a president, but as a refugee."
The second Iraqi head of state to visit France since the fall of Saddam's regime, after Ghazi Al-Yawar in January last year, Talabani's official visit wraps-up on Friday but he will remain privately in the country until on Wednesday.