CAIRO, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Kurdish leader and member of the Iraq Governing Council, Jalal Talabani Tuesday denounced the attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq as terrorism.
Speaking after a meeting with the secretary-general of the Cairo-based Arab League, Talabani said there is no such thing as Iraqi resistance.
"These are mere acts of terrorism," he said.
Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one two leading rival Kurdish parties controlling northern Iraq, said U.S. troops will not pull out from Iraq before free general elections leading to the formation of a permanent government are held.
"The (U.S.) occupation will persist until a new regime is set up on a democratic basis and free elections are held. Only then they will have to leave," Talabani said.
Talabani welcomed the proposal made by the governing council's rotating president Iyad Allawi to include former officers who served under deposed president Saddam Hussein in the new Iraqi army.
The old armed forces were disbanded several months ago by the U.S. civil administration under Paul Bremer.
