That was the stance, Morshed told newsmen at the foreign ministry, Dhaka posed on the issue during official talks with US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who left Bangladesh yesterday morning.

On whether Bangladesh would join forces with a UN peacekeeping mission in Iraq after sovereignty is returned to an interim Iraqi government on June 30, the foreign minister said, "A UN mandate is not the only criterion. In a parliamentary democracy like Bangladesh, such a decision has to reflect the people's will."

When asked if Bangladesh is willing to send troops to Iraq if its government requests in the future, Morshed said, "Let the request come. As we said before, let the bridge come and then we will decide if we are going to cross it or not."

He pointed out that any decision to send peacekeeping troops overseas would depend on their availability and capability. Any conditions attached to the peacekeeping mission would also have to be considered, he added.

Morshed's comments followed the departure of Rumsfeld who was in Dhaka on a 14-hour whirlwind visit and left at 7am yesterday.

The FM termed his discussions with Rumsfeld as 'mutually fruitful', and said he was very happy with the way things worked out in the talks.

In the background of the US defence secretary's comments made in Singapore that he hoped to hunt down terrorist networks and their financiers in South East Asia very soon, when newsmen asked if Rumsfeld expressed any interest to hunt down terrorists in Bangladesh too, Morshed said, "No, the issue was not even raised in the meeting."

Asked why Rumsfeld did not attend the scheduled press briefing, Morshed said, "It was absolutely his prerogative. He spoke to reporters who were travelling with him and whatever he had to say otherwise was communicated to you (Bangladeshi press) through the US ambassador."

The reluctance of Bangladesh to send troops to Iraq depending on a UN mandate only came when fine-tuning of proposals were being made in the draft UN resolution by the US and the UK to ease concerns of fellow Security Council members.

The debates over the draft resolution, which Morshed said he was watching very closely, came ahead of crucial high-level talks later this week on the June-30 transfer of power in Baghdad.

If the Security Council passes the new UN resolution then a US-led multinational peacekeeping force under the UN auspices will take over military affairs in Iraq after June 30.