Iraqi President Jalal Talabani says he is willing to talk to violent opponents of his Government if they wanted to contact him

"If those who call themselves the Iraqi resistance desired to contact me, I would welcome them," he said.

"I would not refuse to meet any Iraqi who wants to meet me.

"But of course that does not mean I will accept what he says."

Mr Talabani is in Egypt for a reconciliation meeting of Iraqi politicians that has been organised by the Cairo-based Arab League.

The talks are to prepare for a bigger conference in Baghdad after elections in December.

Iraqi Government leaders have previously said they will talk to those who are not responsible for killing Iraqis and are committed to laying down their arms.

They have also said a precondition for talks is that their negotiating partners show they have influence among insurgents by persuading them to stop attacks.

Mr Talabani says so far there has not been any contacts with "those whom some describe as the resistance".

In the opening session of the Cairo conference, Mr Talabani said religious extremists who advocate violence and Baathists associates of ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein had no role in the political process in his country.

"Our national unity ... does not include under any circumstance the murderers and criminals among the followers of the old regime, who left us mass graves, or among the takfiris (Muslims who call other Muslims infidels)," he said.

It is not immediately clear if Mr Talabani means to exclude these categories from his offer to open contacts.

But he draws distinctions between three categories of people fighting the Iraqi Government and US forces - "terrorists", those who want to restore Saddam, and those who want to drive foreign forces out of the country.

"To the latter, we say that the answer is not armed operations but political dialogue and democratic methods," he said.

"Iraq is now an open country where any one can express his opinion ... without relying on weapons."

Mr Talabani says his country is not under foreign occupation and it would be a disaster if US forces left the country too soon.

"Those in Iraq now are foreign forces under a UN Security Council resolution and with the consent of the legitimate government," he said.

"Their departure without a timetable or arrangement would be disastrous.

"We must complete building up the Iraqi Armed forces so that Iraq can protect its security itself."

But Transport Minister Salam al-Malaki, who is close to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, says a timetable for US withdrawal remains one of his group's basic demands.

"Moqtada al-Sadr's group has threatened to withdraw from the conference if the other parties do not offer more flexibility and if they do not distance themselves from their extremist positions," he said.

"We want three points - to condemn terrorism, and there must be a differentiation between resistance and terrorism, rejecting Baathists ... and establishing a timetable for the end of the occupation."