BAGHDAD, Nov 16: Iraq’s cabinet has approved a security pact with the United States that will allow American forces to stay in Iraq for three years after their UN mandate expires at the end of the year.

The decision on Sunday followed months of difficult negotiations and, pending parliamentary approval, would remove a major point of contention between the two allies. Parliament’s deputy speaker, Khalid Al-Attiyah, said he expected the 275-member legislature to begin debating the document this week and vote on it by Nov 24.

Government spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh said all but one of the 28 cabinet ministers present in Sunday’s meeting, in addition to Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, voted for the pact by a show of hands. The cabinet has 37 members.

“This is an important and positive step,” said US Embassy spokesman Adam Ereli.

Sunday’s vote followed Washington’s decision last week to grant a last request by Al-Maliki to amend the draft. The amendment removed what Al-Attiyah said was ambiguous language that could allow US forces not to adhere to a timeline for their withdrawal from Iraqi cities by the end of June and from the entire country by Jan 1, 2012.—AP