US presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Tuesday he was still committed to a 16-month timetable for a US troop withdrawal from Iraq but cautioned that more work was needed to reconcile divided Iraqis. "What I have proposed is a steady, deliberate draw down over the course of 16 months," Obama told reporters at a news conference in the Jordanian capital Amman after a visit to Iraq.
Obama said mistrust between Iraqi leaders was holding back the progress of the country's political process. "What became clear in our conversations is that there remains mistrust between Sunni tribal leaders as well as government officials in the Anbar region and the central government," he said after flying in to Amman from the once restive Sunni Muslim Anbar region of Iraq.
"Part of executing a lasting stability in Iraq remains reconciling those two groups... What I emphasised is the fact that the US government can't be there forever, the US military can't be there forever." Obama said he believed that Iraq was more secure than it was 18 months ago but said:
"So far I think we have not seen the kind of political reconciliation that's going to bring about long term stability in Iraq. But there's no doubt that security has improved." Obama is on a fact-finding trip and will also visit Israel.