U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday talked over telephone to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki on his plan of military pullout from Iraq, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
Addressing U.S. Marines at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina in the day, Obama announced a plan to withdraw most troops from Iraq in 18 months, leaving about 35,000 to 50,000 of the current total of around 140,000 troops behind, Xinhua reported.
"By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end," Obama said.
Apart from the plan on Iraq, Obama also "sought and received" Maliki's agreement to receive Christopher Hill as the next U.S. ambassador to his country, Gibbs told reporters.
A veteran diplomat, Hill has long been American envoy to the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.
Obama also informed his predecessor George W. Bush in a " courtesy" call of the plan of troops withdrawal from Iraq, according to the White House spokesman.