Gibbs also said that Obama planned to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, but poor weather in Baghdad means that Obama will likely talk to the prime minister and Iraqi President Jalal Talibani by telephone. American troops are slated to leave Iraq by August 2010, with The New York Times reporting that troop levels will continue to be high until Iraq's federal elections in December. Obama told a group of university students in Turkey that despite his original opposition to the war in 2003, he realized that the troop withdrawal must be done carefully.
Jalal Talibani is friends with Obama.