"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.
The president'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.
Rising sectarian and insurgent violence has forced the United States to keep more troops than planned in Iraq to bolster its troubled security forces.
US troop levels this week hit 150,000, their highest since January when they were beefed up for the Iraq elections, and the length of their deployment is a source of heated debate in the United States.
Though he insisted he was "not here to give you a rosy picture," Talabani gave a fairly upbeat assessment of the security situation in Iraq, during his speech to the French Institute of International Relations.
"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."
Talabani, who arrived in Paris late Wednesday for a three-day official visit, was to meet French President Jacques Chirac later Thursday.
For his first visit to France, the Iraqi president said he wanted to turn a page on the rift opened by Paris' staunch opposition to the US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.
"The new Iraq will rest on the values of liberty, equality and fraternity," he vowed in a reference to the French national motto.
"The aim of this visit is to give a strong impetus to the relations between our two countries," he said, calling on the French people "to look at Iraq with a fresh eye".
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, he also added: "Without this war, perhaps you wouldn't see me here as a president, but as a refugee."

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2006