ALGIERS, Algeria, May 9 (UPI) -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani says foreign troops will remain in place until the national army is restructured and rehabilitated.
He said no timetable for foreign troops withdrawal would be considered "before a national, non-sectarian, army is rebuilt and in which all factions of the Iraqi people are represented."
Talabani spoke to reporters at Algiers airport during a stopover on his way to Brazil to attend the Arab-Latino conference Tuesday and Wednesday.
Talabani also said Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi wants to settle an old court case in Jordan in which he was convicted of embezzlement.
Talabani told Amman's daily al-Rai he discussed Chalabi's case with Jordanian King Abdullah during his weekend visit to Amman.
Chalabi was sentenced by a Jordanian court in 1992 to 22 years in prison after being convicted of embezzling $200 million from al-Petra bank, which went bankrupt.
Talabani also denied Kurdish aspirations to establish an independent state in northern Iraq, saying the Kurdish leadership "has matured and strongly believes in a democratic and federal Iraqi state."
