UNITED NATIONS, Sept 26: In a nod to anti-war members of the UN Security Council like France, the United States on Friday pressed ahead with

plans to set a six-month deadline for the interim Iraqi government to draft and ratify a constitution.

The deadline was announced by Secretary of State Colin Powell in a pair of interviews on Thursday as France continued to insist that Iraq be returned to self-governance as soon as possible, shunning the US preference for the Iraqis to set their own timeline for autonomy.

“We would like to put a deadline on them,” Mr Powell told The New York Times. “They’ve got six months. It’ll be a difficult deadline to meet, but we’ve got to get them going.”

Later in an unusual appearance on a late-night comedy talk show, he said Washington was “anxious” for the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council to meet the six-month deadline and then hold democratic elections.

“We’re anxious to see a constitution written and ratified within the next six months or so, if that’s possible,” Mr Powell said on CBS television’s “Late Show with David Letterman”.

“They’re working hard on that,” he said.

Asked if US troops would remain in Iraq for the next year to 18 months, Mr Powell replied: “At least.”

The United States has proposed a new council resolution that would create a US-led multinational force for Iraq and call for the governing council to set a timeline for the country’s return to self-rule.

Mr Powell has told foreign leaders here on the sidelines of the 58th UN General Assembly session that the United States will not cede its occupying power in Iraq until after a democratically elected government has been established.

But France in particular has held out for the United Nations to set a swift deadline for the return to self-rule, although it insists it will not stand in the way of a new resolution.

Mr Powell said that Washington was still pushing the Iraqi Governing Council, members of whom he met on Thursday, to estimate how long it would take them to write a constitution and conduct elections.—AFP