LONDON, AP -British troops could leave Iraq by the end of 2006, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said in a television interview to be broadcast on Sunday. Britain”s top soldier said this timetable was well within the realm of possibility.

Talabani said Iraqi troops should be ready to take over from British forces in the southern provinces around Basra by the end of next year, adding no Iraqis wanted foreign troops to remain indefinitely in their country.

But he warned that an immediate withdrawal of U.S.-led forces would be a catastrophe for Iraq and would lead to civil war, with harmful consequences for the entire Middle East.

&#34We don”t want British forces forever in Iraq. Within one year — I think at the end of 2006 — Iraqi troops will be ready to replace British forces in the south,&#34 Talabani said in the interview with Jonathan Dimbleby for Independent Television. The station released details from the interview before it aired.

British army chief of staff Gen. Sir Mike Jackson, said Sunday that this timetable was &#34well within the range of what is realistically possible.&#34

&#34The president has said that we could leave within year or so. I would agree — we most certainly could. But it”s a question of achieving the right conditions,&#34 Jackson told the British Broadcasting Corp.”s Sunday A.M. program.

Pressed on whether the assessment amounted to a commitment, Talabani replied: &#34Well, I haven”t been in negotiations, but in my opinion and according to my study of the situation, I can say that it is the just estimation of the situation … There is not one Iraqi that wants that forever the troops remain in the country.&#34

He said, however, that immediate withdrawal &#34would lead to a kind of civil war and … we will lose what we have done for liberating Iraq from worst kind of dictatorship.&#34

&#34Instead of having a democratic, stable Iraq, we will have a civil war in Iraq, we will have troubles in Iraq, (and they) will affect all the Middle East.&#34

Talabani called for a gradual pullout, with close coordination between coalition nations and the Iraqi authorities.

He acknowledged that an upsurge of violence could be expected in the run-up to National Assembly elections, scheduled for Dec. 15, but denied that insurgents would be able to influence the result of the ballot.

&#34I think they will fail, because the Iraqi people are now determined to participate in election,&#34 Talabani said. &#34Even our Sunni Arab brothers are participating actively — they have many lists for election, and they want to be represented in the next parliament.&#34

Talabani denied there was any link between Britain”s involvement in the war in Iraq and the July 7 terror attacks in London that killed 56 people, including the four suicide bombers.

&#34I cannot accept this,&#34 he said.