Iraq's cabinet approved a pact on Sunday that will let US forces remain in the country until 2011, setting a final date to end a US military presence that began with the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The pact, agreed after nearly a year of gruelling negotiations with Washington, must still be approved by the Iraqi parliament, but Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said he expects that to happen before the end of the month.

The agreement will govern the presence of US forces beyond the end of this year and is now officially called the pact 'on the withdrawal of US troops', a sign of how Iraq's government has grown more confident over months of talks.

'The total withdrawal will be completed by Dec 31, 2011. This is not governed by circumstances on the ground. This date is specific and final,' Government spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh told reporters.

Al-Dabbagh initially said the cabinet's vote was unanimous, but later said the pact was supported by 27 out of 28 cabinet members at the cabinet meeting. He said major factions in parliament had also indicated their support.

The draft would place the US force in Iraq under the authority of the Iraqi government for the first time, replacing a UN Security Council mandate enacted after the US invasion.

It calls for US forces to leave the streets of Iraq's towns and villages by the middle of next year. Al-Dabbagh said US forces would hand over their bases to Iraq during the course of 2009 and would lose the authority to raid Iraqi homes without an order from an Iraqi judge and permission of the government.

The Iraqi government has grown increasing confident of its own ability to keep order as violence has dramatically reduced in the country over the past year. Iraqi forces now have command in all but five of Iraq's 18 provinces, and took the lead in a crackdown on Shi'ite militias earlier this year.

October saw the lowest monthly death toll from violence since the invasion, according to Iraqi government statistics. But Iraqi officials acknowledge they still need US military support against Sunni militants in Baghdad and four northern provinces, as well as aid in logistics and fire power.

The United States now has about 150,000 troops in Iraq.

'We welcome the cabinet's approval of the agreement today. This is an important and positive step,' a US embassy spokeswoman said.

Iraqi leaders consider the firm deadline for withdrawal to be a negotiating victory. The outgoing US administration of President George W Bush long opposed setting any timetable for its troops to withdraw from Iraq, but relented in recent months.

Some Iraqi politicians have said they felt it would be easier to accept the pact after the election of Barack Obama, who favours withdrawal, to replace Bush.

Obama's plan calls for all combat troops to be withdrawn by the middle of 2010. Al-Dabbagh said Washington had promised Obama would abide by the new agreement, which the Bush administration says does not need to be passed by the US Congress.

The cabinet had balked at passing an earlier draft of the pact last month, instead submitting a request to Washington for amendments. Washington replied this month with what it called a final offer, removing language suggesting it might keep its troops on beyond the withdrawal date and adding a commitment not to launch attacks on neighbouring states from Iraqi soil.

'There have been compromises that satisfied the Iraqi side,' Zebari said. 'Now we have a deal that we can defend. It will be published and distributed and all neighbouring countries will have a copy of it.'    

Followers of anti-American cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr are the only big group in parliament that still openly opposes the pact.

'Today the cabinet has agreed to put Iraq under the mandate of the American occupation forces. It is a deeply regrettable and sorrowful thing,' Ahmed Al-Masoudy, spokesman for Sadr's bloc in parliament, told Reuters. 'We are calling upon the Iraqi people to stage demonstrations and sit-ins to stop this farce.' 

Iran, which has influence among Iraqi Shi'ites, has also opposed the pact. Tehran did not immediately comment, but an analyst on Iranian state television signalled Tehran might ease its stance, calling the draft a victory for Maliki's government which had obtained concessions from Washington. - Reuters