BAGHDAD, Iraq – Eleven Sunni insurgent groups have offered an immediate halt to all attacks – including those on American troops – if America agrees to withdraw foreign forces from Iraq in two years.

Withdrawal is the centerpiece of a set of demands from the groups, which operate north of Baghdad in the heavily Sunni Arab provinces of Salahuddin and Diyala. Although much of the fighting has been to the west, those provinces are increasingly violent and attacks there have crippled oil and commerce routes.

The groups who have made contact have largely shunned attacks on Iraqi civilians, focusing instead on the American-led coalition forces. Their offer coincides with Prime Minister al-Maliki’s decision to reach out to the Sunni insurgency with a reconciliation plan that includes an amnesty for fighters.

The Islamic Army in Iraq, Muhammad Army, and the Mujahedeen Shura Council – the umbrella group that covers eight terrorist groups including Al Qaeda in Iraq – were not party to any offers to the government.

Naseer al-Ani, a Sunni Arab politician and official with the largest Sunni political group, the Iraqi Islamic Party, said Mr. Maliki should encourage the process by guaranteeing security for those making the offer and not immediately reject their demands.

“The government should prove its good will and not establish red lines,” Mr. Ani said. “If the initiative is implemented in a good way, 70% of the insurgent groups will respond positively.”

Mr. Maliki, in televised remarks yesterday, did not issue an outright rejection of the timetable demand. But he said it was unrealistic, because he could not be certain when the Iraqi army and police would be strong enough to make a foreign presence unnecessary for Iraq’s security.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said President Bush’s “view has been and remains that a timetable is not something that is useful. It is a signal to the enemies that all you have to do is just wait and it’s yours.

“The goal is not to trade something off for something else to make somebody happy, the goal is to succeed,” he said.

Mr. Bush has said American troops will remain in Iraq for years to guarantee the success of the new Iraqi government. However, American military officials have said substantial reductions of the current force of 127,000 American troops could be made before the end of 2007.

In addition to the withdrawal timetable, the Iraqi insurgents have demanded:

* An end to American and Iraqi military operations against insurgent forces.

* Compensation for Iraqis killed by American and government forces and reimbursement for property damage.

* An end to the ban on army officers from Saddam’s regime in the Iraqi military.

* An end to the government ban on former members of the Baath Party, which ruled the country under Saddam.

* The release of insurgent detainees.

“If they set a two-year timetable for the withdrawal, we will stop all our operations immediately,” an insurgent leader said in a telephone interview with the AP. The man, who refused to give his name for security reasons, spoke from the telephone of one of the mediators.