Obama meets U.S. troops, Afghanistan officials

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In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel released Saturday, al-Maliki called Obama's suggestion of 16 months "the right timeframe for a withdrawal" and said U.S. troops should leave Iraq "as soon as possible."

Al-Maliki said he was not seeking to endorse Obama. But his statement was a sharp contrast to the Bush administration policy, supported by McCain, opposing a set timetable for withdrawal.

A top McCain adviser, Randy Scheunemann, responded by accusing Obama of advocating "an unconditional withdrawal that ignores the facts on the ground and the advice of our top military commanders."

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The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, said Saturday that after intense U.S. assaults there, al-Qaida may be considering shifting focus to its original home base in Afghanistan, where American casualties are recently running higher than in Iraq.

Obama has expressed frustration with the efforts by Afghanistan's neighbor Pakistan to go after militants in its territory. That stance may strike a chord with Karzai, who has directly accused Pakistan's intelligence service of supporting the Taliban insurgency by plotting bombings and other attacks in Afghanistan — claims that Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in its war on terror, flatly denies.

But Obama has also chided Karzai and his government, saying it had "not gotten out of the bunker" and helped to organize the country or its political and security institutions.

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Obama shoots hoops in Kuwait
July 19: Sen. Barack Obama visits U.S. troops at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. Pentagon video.
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The Democrat, who is seeking to become the first black U.S. president, spent much of last week outlining his foreign policy views, even as the faltering U.S. economy eclipsed Iraq as the top campaign issue in the November election.

Obama's trip affords the first-term senator a chance to promote his plans to mend rifts with allies weary of the Bush administration and end the Iraq war.

Campaign officials have announced stops in Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and Britain.