Obama timeline doable, Iraqi says

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By Christina Bellantoni

AUSTIN, Texas | Sen. Barack Obama's first journey to Afghanistan was highlighted Saturday by a key Iraqi leader endorsing the Illinois Democrat's timeline for U.S. troop withdrawal.

The visit - kept secret until Mr. Obama arrived in the war zone - kicked off his tour of the Middle East and Europe and signified the balance he must strike between policy meetings with world leaders and building international support through his popularity.

"I'm more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking," the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said as he left Washington.

The Obama campaign described his weeklong trip as a "full agenda with key leaders" and said his goal was to "deepen even further foreign relationships" and talk about "enhanced cooperation" with U.S. allies to tackle global problems such as climate change and nuclear proliferation.

The overseas trip was boosted Saturday when Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told German magazine Der Spiegel he agrees with Mr. Obama's plan to pull out combat troops within 16 months.

"U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right time frame for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes," Mr. al-Maliki said.

Mr. Obama is expected to travel to Iraq and meet with the Iraqi leader during his trip, details of which have been kept private for security reasons.

The Illinois senator visited troops in Kuwait on Friday and was in Afghanistan on Saturday. He recently said the United States should send more troops to Afghanistan.

He traveled with an adviser from his Senate office who served in Iraq as a naval reservist and Sens. Jack Reed, Rhode Island Democrat, and Chuck Hagel, Nebraska Republican.

Mr. Obama was asked what he hoped to learn from the trip, which was paid for in part by taxpayer dollars since it is a congressional delegation.