New York: The American command in Iraq has prepared a detailed plan that foresees a significant US role in the war-torn country for the next two years.

The classified plan, which represents the coordinated strategy of the top American commander and the US ambassador, calls for restoring security in local areas, including Baghdad, by the summer of 2008, the New York Times reported.

Sustainable security is to be established on a nationwide basis by the summer of 2009, the paper said quoting American officials familiar with the document.

The detailed document, known as the Joint Campaign Plan, is an elaboration of the new strategy President George W Bush signaled in January when he decided to send five additional American combat brigades and other units to Iraq, the paper said. That signaled a shift from the previous strategy, which emphasized transferring to Iraqis the responsibility for safeguarding their security. That new approach, the report says, put a premium on protecting the Iraqi population in Baghdad, on the theory that improved security would provide Iraqi political leaders with the breathing space they needed to try political reconciliation.

The latest plan, which covers a two-year period, does not explicitly address troop levels or withdrawal schedules. It anticipates a decline in American forces as the "surge" in troops runs its course later this year or in early 2008, but it nonetheless assumes continued American involvement to train soldiers, act as partners with Iraqi forces and fight terrorist groups in Iraq, American officials were quoted as saying.