Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Ghazi al-Yawar, Iraq's interim president, said U.S. and other military forces in the country may be reduced by the end of this year.

``It has to be according to the expedition of training,'' al- Yawar told television interviewer Charlie Rose in a program broadcast late yesterday on Bloomberg television in New York. ``Maybe by the end of the year we can see a gradual decrease in foreign forces in Iraq.''

A withdrawal may begin provided that a training program is in place for Iraqi security forces and there is money to provide officers with ``a better standard of living'' and social security payments for families of officers killed, al-Yawar said.

Iraq held its first free election in more than 50 years on Jan. 30 when voters chose candidates for a national assembly that will approve a new constitution, paving the way for general elections by the end of the year. The withdrawal of the military coalition's 155,000-strong U.S. contingent will take at least three years, Lieutenant General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander training Iraqi troops, said earlier this week.

More than 8 million Iraqis, or 60 percent of eligible voters, took part in the election under a large security presence involving Iraqi and international forces. Attacks on election day left 44 people dead, the Associated Press reported.

While no one wants international forces to stay in Iraq indefinitely, it would be ``complete nonsense for them to leave in this chaos.'' al-Yawar said yesterday at a news conference held in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

The Iraqi government should offer some kind of amnesty for people with no criminal cases against them, al-Yawar said in the interview late yesterday.

``Some people should really be pardoned, such as those who deplore violence,'' he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Todd Zeranski in New York at tzeranski@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 2, 2005 00:44 EST