The US remains on track for its drawdown in troops from Iraq by August despite the political stalemate in Baghdad, Vice-President Joe Biden said in an interview broadcast.

'There is a transition government. There is a government in place that's working,' Biden told ABC's This Week when asked if the US administration can meet its commitment to end its combat mission in August.

'Iraqi security is being provided by the Iraqis, with our assistance. We're going to have - still have 50,000 troops there. We will have brought home 95,000. There is no-one in the military who thinks there's any reason we can't do that,' Biden was quoted as saying in our sister publication, the Gulf Daily News.

Biden acknowledged the difficulties among Iraqi parties in reaching a power-sharing agreement but said this would not affect the drawdown.

'I don't have a doubt in my mind that we'll be able to meet the commitment of having only 50,000 troops there and it will not in any way affect the physical stability of Iraq,' he said.

Iraqi political parties 'are in negotiations right now to figure out how to allocate the power within that government,' Biden said.

'In other words, share power. And it is about just that. And it's underway. And it's going to happen,' he added.

'There will be a central government with control of its foreign policy, with control of the military,' the vice-president said.

Biden's comments came days after Washington urged Iraqis on all sides to make greater efforts to overcome differences and end a four-month stalemate in forming a government.

Iraqi politicians last Monday extended an inaugural parliamentary session by two weeks to give rival blocs more time to form a government, more than four months after the elections.

Parliament, the second democratically elected chamber since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein, met briefly for the first time on June 14 after the March 7 general election.

In early July, Biden travelled to Iraq to urge politicians to put aside personal ambitions and form a government representative of all Iraqis. – TradeArabia News Service