Former US Democratic president Jimmy Carter called on Friday for US troops to be 'totally' withdrawn from Iraq 'within the next year or so'.
Carter's comments come one day after the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq hit 96 in the first three and a half weeks of October, the highest monthly toll in a year.
"I would personally like to see US troops out of Iraq within the next year or so," said Carter, who won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.
"I don't think so far there's ever been any commitment from our government in Washington ever to totally withdraw from (the) Iraq military. I would like to see that commitment made," Carter told reporters in the Indian capital.
US President George Bush said earlier this week in Washington that US troops would not be withdrawn "until the job is down" despite concern among Americans over mounting US casualties.
Carter, who served as president from 1977-1981, said that before their withdrawal, US troops should be moved away from the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
"I would like to see US troops being withdrawn from the center of violence to more remote areas where they could be stationed and called upon to maintain security for the country," said Carter, visiting India for a charity project.
Carter, on his first trip to India in almost three decades, also called for an international conference to obtain global support for Iraq's development after a US withdrawal.
"We should convene a major conference of all nations interested in the future of Iraq," said Carter, who was due to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later Friday.
Those invited should include the Gulf states, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Russia, the United States, Canada, France and Britain, he said.
Carter also took aim at the Bush administration over North Korea's nuclear test earlier this month.
He blamed North Korea's decision to stage the test partly on what he said was the Bush administration's move to abandon a dialogue process he helped initiate in the 1990s on behalf of former Democratic president Bill Clinton.
"Instead of having direct bilateral talks, which I initiated, they shifted to six-nation talks," said Carter.
"I think this has been the wrong approach to North Korea."
The former president and his wife, Rosalynn Smith Carter, were in India for a weeklong charity project to help build 100 homes for poor families.
The construction effort was run by Habitat for Humanity which builds homes around the world with the help of volunteers.