By Dean Yates and Mussab Al-Khairalla

BAGHDAD, July 1 (Reuters) - Iraq will disintegrate and turn into a safer haven for al Qaeda than Afghanistan before the fall of the Taliban if American troops withdraw prematurely, Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Sunday.

Zebari said he delivered the warning to U.S. government and congressional leaders during a visit to Washington, where pressure is mounting on U.S. President George W. Bush to draw down American forces in Iraq.

"I really did explain to them the dangers of just walking away from the situation, (saying) 'this is not our war, we cannot reconcile the Iraqis'," Zebari said in an interview.

"The country would disintegrate, literally, practically. Every group would go back to its community or to its sect or ethnicity and then we would really have a divided country without a central government to keep it together."

Zebari noted attention in Washington was focused on September when an assessment will be made on whether a big U.S. troop build-up has curbed sectarian violence and whether Iraq's political leaders have made progress on national reconciliation.

The September report, to be presented by U.S. military commander General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, is viewed as a watershed. Campaigning in the 2008 U.S. presidential race is under way and Iraq is proving the dominant issue.

'MAGICAL DATE'

Zebari said he stressed that September should not be seen as a "magical date" but an opportunity to review the situation.

While progress has been made in cutting violence -- the number of civilians killed in Iraq fell 36 percent in June -- there has been little movement on passing laws aimed at bringing disaffected minority Sunni Arabs more into the political fold.

The main Sunni bloc said last week it was boycotting cabinet meetings over legal steps against one of its ministers. It has already suspended its participation in parliament.

In the absence of self-sustaining Iraqi security forces, a premature withdrawal of American troops would create a vacuum that could mean the risk of sectarian war "in the streets, in the neighbourhoods and in the provinces", Zebari said.

"Al Qaeda and terrorist groups would really find a safe haven, find a better base than Afghanistan in terms of the culture, the location and proximity to other interests in the region," he said.

Another risk was a regional war, Zebari said, pointing to Turkey's build-up of troops on Iraq's northern border.

Tensions have soared along the border after an upsurge in attacks across Turkey that Ankara has blamed on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a Turkish rebel group that has several thousand fighters inside northern Iraq.

"I believe had it not been for the presence of the multinational forces, they (the Turks) could have easily moved in. So the same applies to other neighbours who have territorial ambitions," Zebari said.

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