July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama met with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and military commanders in Iraq today as his approach for gradually withdrawing U.S. combat troops received fresh support.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee discussed with al-Maliki in Baghdad the future of the U.S. military presence and the possibility of reducing troop numbers, Sawt al- Iraq news agency reported on its Arabic-language Web site. Obama earlier met with commanders in the southern, oil-rich city of Basra.

The meetings came after al-Maliki called Obama's 16-month U.S. troop withdrawal plan ``the right timeframe.'' A spokesman for al-Maliki said the comments, in an interview with the German news magazine Der Spiegel, weren't an endorsement of a specific timetable. President George W. Bush last week backed setting a ``time horizon'' for troop reductions, without setting dates.

``Maliki, even President Bush are moving toward Barack Obama's position,'' Indiana Democratic Senator Evan Bayh said in an interview on ``Fox News Sunday.''

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh was hopeful that U.S. combat troops could withdraw by 2010, the Associated Press cited him as saying after the meeting with Obama.

Obama, 46, is on his first trip overseas since clinching the Democratic presidential nomination. He plans stops in Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and Britain on a six-day tour designed to counter criticism that he's a foreign-policy neophyte, a concern supporters said the trip will address.

Poll Ratings

An ABC News-Washington Post survey this month found that voters, by more than a 2-to-1 margin, said the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, 71, has a greater knowledge of the world than Obama. The poll, taken July 10-13, also found that 72 percent of those surveyed said McCain knows enough about world affairs to be president, while 56 percent said so about Obama.

Obama, in Afghanistan yesterday, said the U.S. must shift its attention to fighting terrorism there, by adding two to three brigades. A typical U.S. Army brigade consists of about 3,500 soldiers.

``This has to be our central focus, the central front of our battle against terrorism,'' Obama said in an interview on CBS's ``Face the Nation'' from Afghanistan. ``One of the biggest mistakes we've made strategically after 9/11 was to fail to finish the job here, focus our attention here.''

Karzai Meeting

Obama met President Hamid Karzai and U.S. military commanders and troops in Afghanistan. Joined by U.S. Senators Chuck Hagel and Jack Reed, Obama had lunch with Karzai and his top aides in the presidential palace in Kabul, spokesman Humayun Hamidzada told reporters.

Obama, who opposed the war with Iraq, said that conflict distracted the U.S. from the task of capturing al-Qaeda leaders and rebuilding Afghanistan after the militant Islamic Taliban regime was ousted.

``We made a strategic error, and it's one that we're going to pay for,'' the Illinois senator told CBS. ``But we now have an opportunity to correct that problem.''

June was the deadliest month for the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan, with at least 45 soldiers killed. By comparison, 29 U.S. personnel died in Iraq during the month. Since the conflicts began, 4,121 U.S. personnel have died in Iraq and 476 have died in and around Afghanistan.

Iraq `Surge'

The U.S. has about 150,000 soldiers in Iraq. The last of five so-called ``surge'' brigades Bush sent to the country last year to counter insurgent violence is due to come home this month. There are about 36,000 U.S. personnel in Afghanistan, along with about 40,000 from other North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries.

The Obama delegation visited Basra earlier today, meeting with Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin and Major General Barney White-Spunner, U.S. Embassy spokesman Armand Cucciniello said in a telephone interview. Austin is commander of Multinational Corps Iraq and White-Spunner is the British Army commander of Multinational Division Southeast.

Obama has said he would pull out U.S. forces from Iraq at a rate of one to two brigades per month, completing a withdrawal of most combat troops within 16 months of taking office. On July 3 he told reporters he may ``refine'' his position after consulting with American generals, then later that day said he wasn't backing away from his pledge to end U.S. military involvement in Iraq.

``By any measure, our single-minded and open-ended focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping America safe,'' Obama said.

McCain Charge

McCain has attacked his rival for laying out a detailed plan for a U.S. pullout from Iraq before consulting with U.S. commanders on the ground.

``I have never given a speech outlining what I was going to find out, laying out a strategy, before I left,'' McCain told reporters on July 15. ``I have never seen anything like that, and I've been around a long time.''

Spiegel quoted al-Maliki in an interview published on the magazine's Web site July 19 as saying Iraqis wanted a majority of U.S. troops out ``as soon as possible,'' according to a translation of the remarks. ``Obama talks of 16 months,'' al- Maliki added. ``That, we think, would be the correct period of time for the withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes.''

`Closer to the Reality'

Asked if he was endorsing Obama and whether the Democrat understands Iraq better than McCain, al-Maliki responded: ``Whoever bargains on short-term time limits is closer to the reality. Artificially extending the time that U.S. troops stay would cause problems. That being said, of course I don't want to give any endorsement.''

Al-Dabbagh later said in an e-mailed statement that the prime minister supports a ``general vision'' of U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq but hasn't backed Obama's plan. Al-Maliki's comments were ``misunderstood and mistranslated'' and weren't ``conveyed accurately,'' al-Dabbagh said. The remarks ``should not be understood as support to any U.S. presidential candidate.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Julianna Goldman in Washington at jgoldman6@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 21, 2008 11:45 EDT