Obama to Meet With Jordanian Leaders
Posted on: Tuesday, 22 July 2008, 09:00 CDT
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama traveled to Jordan Tuesday, where he was expected to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iraq and Iran with Jordanian leaders.
Obama, the likely Democratic U.S. presidential nominee, is to meet privately in Amman with Jordan's King Abdullah and then join Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., for a dinner with the king, Queen Rania and several top Jordanian officials, USA Today reported.
Middle East experts say leaders want to know Obama's commitment to the region, particularly Iran, the newspaper reported.
They want to understand -- is he serious about heading off Iran's nuclear programs and how is he going to do that, Martin Indyk, director of the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy, told USA Today.
Obama, D-Ill., traveled to Jordan from Iraq, where he and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki discussed U.S. combat troop withdrawal. Obama said he found a strong, emerging consensus for redeploying forces with Maliki, CNN reported.
America has a strategic opportunity to build a new kind of partnership with Iraq, Obama and his colleagues said in a statement, and to refocus our foreign policy on the many other pressing challenges around the world -- starting with the resurgence of al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Obama, whose 16-month troop withdrawal plan has been criticized by his Republican challenger Sen. John McCain of Arizona, also met with U.S. and British troops in Basra, and American military commanders.
Source: United Press International
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