Iraq's cabinet approved a pact on Sunday that will let U.S. troops stay in the country until 2011, setting a final date to end a military presence that began with the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The pact, agreed upon after nearly a year of gruelling negotiations with Washington, must still be approved by the Iraqi parliament, but Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said he expected that to happen by the end of the month.

It puts a closing date on a war that has been one of the defining political issues in the United States, the Middle East and around the globe for much of the past decade.

"The total withdrawal will be completed by Dec. 31, 2011. This is not governed by circumstances on the ground. This date is specific and final," cabinet spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said of the pact, supported by 27 of 28 cabinet members.

Dabbagh said major factions in parliament had indicated their support. Deputy parliament speaker Khaled al-Attiya said a first reading would be held in the chamber on Monday.

The draft would place the U.S. force in Iraq — which now numbers about 150,000 — under the authority of the Iraqi government for the first time, replacing a mandate enacted by the UN Security Council after the U.S. invasion.

It calls for U.S. forces to leave the streets of Iraq's towns and villages by the middle of next year.

Dabbagh said U.S. forces would hand over their bases to Iraq during the course of 2009 and would lose the authority to raid Iraqi homes without an order from an Iraqi judge and permission of the government.

"We welcome the cabinet's approval of the agreement today. This is an important and positive step," a U.S. embassy spokeswoman said.

The Iraqi government has grown increasing confident of its own ability to keep order as violence has dramatically reduced in the country over the past year.

Iraqi forces now have command in all but five of Iraq's 18 provinces, and took the lead in a crackdown on Shia militias earlier this year.

October saw the lowest monthly death toll from violence since the invasion, according to Iraqi government statistics.

But Iraqi officials acknowledge they still need U.S. military support against Sunni militants in Baghdad and four northern provinces, as well as aid in logistics and fire power.

15 killed in suicide car bombing

A suicide car bomber struck a police checkpoint in volatile Diyala province north of Baghdad on Sunday, killing 15 people, and wounding 20, police said.

Iraqi leaders consider the firm deadline for withdrawal to be a negotiating victory. The outgoing U.S. administration of President George W. Bush long opposed setting any timetable for its troops to withdraw from Iraq, but relented in recent months.

The latest draft, submitted by Washington after the Iraqi cabinet balked at an earlier version last month, even changes the agreement's title to refer explicitly to the withdrawal.

"There have been compromises that satisfied the Iraqi side," Zebari told Reuters. "Now we have a deal that we can defend. It will be published and distributed and all neighbouring countries will have a copy of it."

Some Iraqi politicians have said it was easier to endorse the pact since the election this month of Barack Obama — who favours withdrawal — to replace Bush. Obama's own plan calls for all combat troops to be withdrawn by the middle of 2010.

Dabbagh said Washington had promised Obama would abide by the agreement, which the Bush administration says does not need the approval of the U.S. Congress.

Followers of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are the only big group in parliament that still openly opposes the pact.

"Today the cabinet has agreed to put Iraq under the mandate of the American occupation forces. It is a deeply regrettable and sorrowful thing," Ahmed al-Masoudy, spokesman for Sadr's bloc in parliament, told Reuters.

"We are calling upon the Iraqi people to stage demonstrations and sit-ins to stop this farce," he said.

Iran, which has influence among Iraqi Shias, has also opposed the pact. Tehran did not immediately comment, but an analyst on Iranian state television signalled Tehran might ease its stance, calling the draft a victory for Maliki's government that had obtained concessions from Washington.