US President Barack Obama has placed the planned drawdown of American troops from Iraq high on his policy agenda and met military commanders and top officials shortly after taking office last week.

Under an agreement signed between Washington and Baghdad in November, the US military is slated to withdraw its combat troops from Iraq by the end of 2011 and must have them out of cities by the end of this June.

On Monday, however, Maliki, campaigning for his party in Saturday's provincial elections, suggested the withdrawal could happen sooner, according to a government statement.

"We are determined to finish the arming of our forces to be able to take over the responsibility of security, after our success in the signature of the withdrawal agreement, which will speed up the withdrawal," the statement quoted him as telling an audience in Hilla, 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of Baghdad.

The US military is currently taking a back seat to an increasingly large Iraqi force made up of 560,000 policemen and 260,000 military personnel, with the US providing military logistical and air support on request.

According to the Pentagon, 143,000 American troops are currently deployed in Iraq.

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