Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen said no request had been made by the Iraqi government for any American troop presence here beyond 2011, and his remarks reiterated those of US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on a visit two weeks ago.

"It (talks) needs to start soon, very soon, should there be any chance of avoiding irrevocable logistics and operational decisions we must make in the coming weeks," Mullen said at a news conference at the US military's Victory Base Camp on Baghdad's outskirts.

He added he was "certain my government will welcome that dialogue" were it to take place.

"Time is running short for negotiations to occur," he said.

Mullen is the fourth top US official to visit Baghdad ahead of the upcoming end-of-year pullout, bearing the same message that Baghdad must make an urgent decision on troops.

He followed on the heels of Gates, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner and US army chief of staff General Martin Dempsey.

But Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told Mullen on Thursday the Iraqi army was up to the task of maintaining security, and Mullen himself told reporters there had not "been any requests from the Iraqi government for any residual US force presence here after this December."

Maliki's remarks to Mullen reiterated those he made to Boehner, who was in Iraq last weekend.

Despite those comments, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that US and Iraqi officials were interested in keeping 10,000 US troops in the country beyond the deadline, citing unnamed officials.

And Mullen noted that despite the Iraqi security forces having made progress in recent years, "air defence, intelligence and sustainment, for instance, are all areas that represent potential vulnerabilities" for Iraq's security forces.

Further complicating the potential for a longer-term US presence are remarks by anti-US radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on April 9, when he warned that his supporters would resume armed opposition if American troops were to stay beyond the end of this year.

"Sadr has been a significant complicating factor in Iraq for a long period of time," Mullen said at the news conference.

"The extension of that statement is to essentially threaten violence in the future, and Iraq has seen more than its fair share of violence and death."

Fewer than 50,000 US troops are currently stationed in Iraq, down from a peak of nearly 170,000 following the US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein in 2003.

All of those troops must withdraw from the country by the end of the year, under the terms of a bilateral security pact.

Gates said on April 8 that American forces were prepared to stay in any role beyond the scheduled pullout, but he too said time was running out for Baghdad to ask.

"My basic message to them is (for us to) just be present in some areas where they still need help. We are open to that possibility," he said. "But they have to ask, and time is running out in Washington."

A senior American military official also said last week that Iraqi leaders should not expect US forces to return to help in a crisis after they have pulled out.

Iraqi army chief of staff General Babaker Zebari, whom Mullen met with on his trip here, told AFP last summer that American forces may be needed in the conflict-wracked nation for a further decade.

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