KABUL, Afghanistan — Barack Obama met with U.S. troops and received a military briefing on conditions in Afghanistan yesterday during the opening leg of an overseas trip designed to showcase his appeal in major foreign cities and reassure American voters that he would make a reliable commander-in-chief.

Obama's trip is scheduled to include a visit to Iraq, and his foreign policy judgment got an unexpected boost from that country's leader, Nouri al-Maliki, who praised the Democratic presidential candidate's plan for withdrawing U.S. troops over a 16-month period.

In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, al-Maliki embraced Obama's plan, saying: "That, we think, would be the right time frame for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes." Al-Maliki emphasized he was not making an endorsement in the presidential race.

The presumed Republican nominee, John McCain, has said that conditions in Iraq could worsen if troops were removed at the pace his rival has advised.

Obama's high-profile trip caps a week on the campaign trail during which he focused on national security and U.S. commitments abroad — areas that are considered special strengths of McCain.

Seizing on al-Maliki's favorable comments, the Obama campaign put out a statement from his foreign policy adviser, Susan Rice: "Senator Obama welcomes Prime Minister Maliki's support for a 16-month timeline for the redeployment of U.S. combat brigades. This presents an important opportunity to transition to Iraqi responsibility, while restoring our military and increasing our commitment to finish the fight in Afghanistan."

In a speech last week, Obama said that troops should be drawn down in Iraq and two additional combat brigades deployed in Afghanistan, a war he said the U.S. can't afford to lose.

His visit to Afghanistan comes at a time of sharply deteriorating security across the country. Suicide bombings are an everyday occurrence, and the number of foreign troops killed last month was the highest since the start of the war.

The presumptive Democratic nominee and senator from Illinois is part of an official congressional delegation that includes Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. The lawmakers made a brief visit to Jalalabad airfield in eastern Afghanistan, greeting American troops from their respective home states.

At Bagram Air Base outside Kabul, Obama and the others met with senior military officials and got a briefing from the commander of American forces in eastern Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser.

The decision to have the delegation meet with Schloesser likely reflected growing U.S. concern over infiltration of fighters from the tribal lands on the Pakistani side of the frontier, which borders Afghanistan's eastern provinces.

Although Afghanistan's south is the traditional heartland of the insurgency, the eastern front, where U.S. forces are concentrated, has heated up dramatically in recent weeks. American troops suffered their worst single-incident loss in three years last Sunday, when about 200 insurgents staged a well-organized assault on a remote base near the Pakistani border manned by U.S. and Afghan troops. Nine Americans, including 1st Lt. Jonathan Brostrom of 'Aiea, were killed and 15 wounded.

Yesterday, a NATO soldier was killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province. The soldier's nationality was not released, but nearly all Western troops in that area are Canadian.

Recent polls show that most Americans see McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam, as the more seasoned of the two candidates when it comes to foreign policy.

To close the gap, Obama has been trying to shore up his credentials. In speeches and opinion pieces, Obama has argued that invading Iraq was a mistake, that Iraqi officials also favor a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal, and that Afghanistan is the real front in the war on terrorism.

In that respect, al-Maliki's remarks gave Obama a boost and have left McCain in an awkward spot.

The Arizona senator has said that U.S. troops should leave Iraq when the al-Maliki government and U.S. commanders on the ground deem the country to be secure.

But McCain has dismissed Obama's 16-month timeline as politically motivated and said it was an invitation for more chaos in Iraq.