"We are truly capable of assuming Baghdad's security responsibility if the U.S. troops pull out from the city," Major General Abdul Kareem Khalaf said in a statement.
Khalaf, however, said the increase in the number of car bomb and roadside bomb attacks in Baghdad, particularly since the fasting month of Ramadan, does not mean a failure for the Iraqi security forces.
"An increase in car bombs and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) explosions do not indicate failure on the part of the (Iraqi)security forces at all," Khalaf said.
Khalaf's remarks came a day after Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said that Iraq and the United States are close to reaching a draft deal on the status of U.S. troops in Iraq beyond 2008.
At a joint press conference with the visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, Zebari said the two sides were" very close to reaching satisfactory results," but he warned that sensitive issues like legal immunity for U.S. troops would need "some bold political decisions."
Iraq and the United States formally began their intensive negotiations on the security deal in March. The two sides have planned to sign an agreement that would allow U.S. forces to remain in Iraq after a UN mandate expires at the end of this year.
The two sides differ on several points, among which, would immunity be granted to U.S. soldiers from Iraqi laws, who will lead the military operations after 2008, and would the U.S. military have the right to detain Iraqis.
