(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-10-23 22:49

"I think it's going to take a few more months" than the US timetable, which calls for completing negotiations by the end of the year and winning parliamentary approval next spring, Pojar said in an interview over breakfast at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs while Gates was meeting with President Vaclav Klaus.

Pojar said he takes little stock in public opinion polls that show a majority of Czechs oppose having a US missile defense site on their territory.

The Pentagon wants to install 10 interceptor rockets in Poland which, when linked to a proposed tracking radar in the Czech Republic and to other elements of the existing US missile defense system based in the United States, could defend all of Europe against a long-range missile fired from the Middle East.

Poland's opposition party ousted ruling conservatives in parliamentary elections on Sunday, which is expected to mean some delay in missile defense negotiations with Washington. Nonetheless, Gates said Monday he still believes Warsaw will cooperate.

Critics say no such system is needed in the foreseeable future because no country in the Middle East, including Iran, now possesses a ballistic missile with sufficient range to threaten all of Europe or the United States.

The US aim is to have both missile defense sites ready for limited operation by 2011 and fully operational by 2013. Russia strongly opposes the US system, including the planned expansion into Europe. Earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin urged Washington to freeze negotiations with Warsaw and Prague.

Many in Congress also oppose adding the two European sites.

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