US Defense Secretary Robert Gates Tuesday softened his opposition to a 16-month timetable for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq advocated by president-elect Barack Obama.
"I am less concerned about that timetable," he told a news conference at the Pentagon a day after Obama announced Gates had agreed to stay on as defense secretary in a Democratic administration.
Gates emphasized that a status of forces agreement reached with Iraq already calls for the withdrawal of all US troops by the end of 2011.
While Obama had repeated his desire to get US combat troops out within 16 months, "he also said that he wanted to have a responsible drawdown. And he also said that he was prepared to listen to his commanders," Gates said.
"And it's within that framework that I think it is agreeable," he added.
Their differences over the pace of the drawdown has been a key question in what Gates acknowledged was a "unique" situation, noting that he is the first defense secretary ever to be kept on by a newly elected president.
"I think the president-elect has made it pretty clear that he wanted a team of people around him who would tell him what they thought and give him their best advice. I think he has assemble that team," he said.
"There will, no doubt, be differences among the team. And it will be up to the president to make the decisions," he said.
Gates told reporters that his tenure would be open-ended.
"I have no intention of being a caretaker secretary," he said.
However, he said all other political appointees at the defense department were subject to replacement by the new administration.
