US Democratic Candidate Barak Obama (l) in talks with Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (r) in Kuwait City on Monday, before arriving to Iraq.

Barack Obama began Monday his first on-the-ground inspection of Iraq since launching his bid for the White House, with US commanders ready to brief him on progress in a war he has long opposed and Iraqi leaders wanting more details of his proposals for troop withdrawals.
His stop in Baghdad is the second major leg of a war zone tour that opened in Afghanistan. The contrasts in tone and message were distinct, AP reported.
Obama sees the battle against the resurgent Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan as America’s most crucial fight and supports expanding troop strength to counter a sharp rise in attacks.
The Illinois senator arrived early Monday in a dusty haze kicked by Baghdad’s summer winds. The airport is located near the vast Camp Victory, a nerve center for the US military in the palaces and gardens that were once part of Saddam Hussein’s presidential compound.
The lawmakers made no public statements and moved directly into talks.
Obama has endorsed removing US combat forces over a 16-month period, but has been less precise on the size and type of US military role needed in Iraq after an exit from the battlefield.
Iraqi leaders are expected to press Obama for more clarity on his long-term vision. Such discussions have added importance since Iraq and US negotiators appear stalled in efforts to reach a long-range pact to define future US military presence and obligations.
American diplomats hoped to reach a final accord by the end of the month, but it now seems the goal is a stopgap “bridge“ document that would maintain the status for US forces once a UN mandate on their presence expires at the end of the year.
Obama arrived following a brief stop in Kuwait. The delegation met Sunday with the emir, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, and other senior officials, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

Elections Delayed
In another development, Iraq’s election authority proposed Sunday to delay important provincial balloting in an apparent sign of frustration over a political impasse that has stalled preparations for voting planned for this fall.
The provincial election plan would shift more political powers to regions and is viewed by Sunni Arabs as path to gain more influence over decisions by the Shiite-led government, AP reported.
US officials see the voting as another key step in national reconciliation.
But any prolonged setbacks could slow momentum for giving Sunnis a greater voice in political and security affairs--considered essential to stabilize the country and maintain pressure on Al-Qaeda in Iraq and other militant factions.

Opening Airport
In other News, Iraq opened a new airport in the southern city of Najaf on Sunday in what the prime minister said was a key step in the reconstruction of a country devastated by war.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, travel to Iraq every year to visit Shiite shrines in Najaf and another holy city, Karbala. The new airport is expected to boost the numbers of pious tourists, AP reported.
At a ceremony, Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki described the $250 million airport as a vital element in Iraq’s economic development. A military airfield was renovated for the new airport, and several flights were expected to land on Sunday.
Violence in Iraq is at its lowest level in four years, though bombings and shootings persist in many areas.
Meanwhile, the US military said American soldiers have killed two armed relatives of a provincial governor during a raid against Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
The military said in a statement that the soldiers were acting in self-defense when they shot the relatives of Hamad Hammoud, governor of Salahuddin province.
The raid happened Sunday in Beiji in northern Iraq. The deputy governor, Abdullah Hussein Jabarah, said the slain men were the son and nephew of the governor.
The US military said a financier for Al-Qaeda in Iraq was wounded and captured during the operation.

Forty-three people were killed in clashes between security forces and militants in a part of Pakistan’s southwestern province of Baluchistan where nationalist insurgents have been active, local media reported on Monday.
According to Reuters, the “News“ newspaper reported that 33 of the dead were militants and nine were members of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in the fighting on Sunday in the Dera Bugti area.
The report, sourced to unnamed paramilitary officials, said more than two dozen militants were captured and a large weapons cache was found.
It said security forces were on high alert in Dera Bugti and Sui, the hub for Pakistan’s biggest gas field, where ethnic Baluch nationalists have been waging a campaign for greater autonomy.
Reuters obtained similar accounts from unnamed paramilitary and intelligence officials, who requested anonymity, but they had put the death toll at 29, including five Frontier Corps soldiers.
Meanwhile, a court on Monday barred the disgraced architect of Pakistan’s atomic weapons program from speaking about nuclear proliferation, less than three weeks after he implicated the army in the sharing of nuclear technology with North Korea. Abdul Qadeer Khan has been largely confined to his home in the capital since taking sole responsibility in 2004 for leaking nuclear secrets to North Korea and Libya.
However, he recently began agitating for an end to his confinement, disowning his 2004 confession in media interviews and saying the army had known all about at least one act of proliferation in 2000. President Pervez Musharraf issued a swift denial. The Islamabad High Court, ruling Monday on a petition filed by Khan’s lawyer, said the retired scientist must be allowed to meet close friends and relatives subject to security clearance--something the government said he can already do.
Presiding Judge Sardar Mohammed Aslam also said that Khan “will not convey, transmit, relay any comment or give interview to any channel, news reporter, print or electronic media, in any manner whatsoever in respect of issue of proliferation.“