The Iraqi government welcomed Tuesday the report presented to Congress in Washington by US commander in Iraq General David Petraeus, who recommended that the United States would need fewer forces in Iraq in future.

Speaking at a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq's National Security Advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie said the report was "transparent" in assessing the situation in Iraq.

He described what the Iraqi government had achieved so far as "a historical progress" towards the setting up of democracy.

"Iraq's government and the security forces would remain in need of the support of the US-coalition forces" until they were fully prepared to take on Iraq's security themselves, Al-Rubaie said.

According to Al-Rubaie, seven Iraqi provinces have so far come under the control of the Iraqi security forces from the US and British forces.

On Monday, both Petraeus and the US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker presented their reports before Congress assessing the situation in Iraq.

Petraeus proposed that the increase in troops, ordered by US President George W. Bush to quell secttarian violence in Iraq, could end by mid-July 2008.

"The military objectives of the surge are in large measure being met," Petraeus told a hearing in the US House of Representatives. A "premature" force reduction could be "devastating," he said.

Bush in January announced a boost in US troop strength from about 130,000 to more than 160,000. He has urged Americans to give the "surge" time to work and has portrayed Petraeus' report as crucial to the future US course in Iraq.

Petraeus said US and Iraqi forces have "dealt significant blows" to Al Qaeda operations in Iraq and violent attacks in the last two weeks have dropped to the lowest in more than a year.

"Though Al Qaeda and its affiliates remain dangerous, we have taken away a number of their sanctuaries and gained the initiative in many areas," he said.

Crocker, a seasoned diplomat who has headed the Baghdad embassy since March, acknowledged that progress is slow.

"The American people are frustrated. I am frustrated every day I spend in Iraq on the lack of progress on legislative initiatives. Iraqis themselves are frustrated," he told the hearing.

Still, Petraeus said Iraqi forces were increasingly providing for the country's security and cited dramatic progress in Anbar province, where local Sunni leaders have allied with US forces in combating Al Qaeda.

Violent deaths among Iraqi civilians have fallen by more than 45 percent since the peak of sectarian violence in Dec 2006, and ethnic killings are down by more than 55 percent, he said.