Barack Obama said Tuesday that security in Iraq has improved and the United States must soon bring that war to an end so military forces can "finish the fight" against terrorists in Afghanistan.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, in the first press conference of his high-profile overseas trip, said political progress must still be achieved in Iraq. But following meetings with the political leaders of both Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama said he stands by his goal of withdrawing U.S. combat brigades from Iraq within 16 months of taking office.

"The situation in Afghanistan is perilous and urgent. We must act now to reverse a deteriorating situation," Obama said in Amman, Jordan, calling Afghanistan the "central front in the war against terrorism."

"I welcome the growing consensus in the United States and Iraq for a timeline," he said, in a reference to Iraqi government statements that they support a 2010 deadline for troop withdrawal.

"If we responsibly end the war in Iraq, we can strengthen our military, step up our efforts to finish the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, and succeed in leaving Iraq to a sovereign government that can take responsibility for its own future."

He said there is "security progress" in Iraq, and that "now we need a political solution."

John McCain's campaign, battling Obama from afar, accused the Illinois senator of stubbornly rejecting the advice of Gen. David Petraeus, the head of Multinational Forces in Iraq and recently confirmed head of U.S. Central Command.

Obama admitted Tuesday that "no doubt" Petraeus opposes a timetable -- but he personally needs to take into account a broader set of factors than the general in formulating his policy.

"If I were in his shoes, I'd probably feel the same way. But my job as a candidate for president and a potential commander in chief extends beyond Iraq," Obama said. "I have to factor in the perceptions of the Iraqi people and the statements by Prime Minister Maliki and his spokespeople in public, that they are ready to see the Iraqi government take on more responsibility for security.

"So there are a range of factors that I have to take into account as a commander in chief or a potential commander in chief that I wouldn't expect General Petraeus or anybody who's just on the ground to have to take into account."

McCain's campaign circulated his statements and held a conference call to chastise him for going against the advice of Petraeus.

"He believes deferring to the commander on the ground is not the job of the commander in chief," said foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann. "Senator Obama will not credit generals, he will not credit the strategy that worked. He consistently demonstrates his poor judgment and his inflexibility in the face of facts on the ground."

McCain also continued to hammer Obama for saying earlier that he would still have opposed the troop surge, knowing what he knows now.

“He was wrong then, he's wrong now and he still fails … to acknowledge that the surge succeeded. Remarkable," McCain said at a town hall meeting in Rochester, N.H.

Obama said Tuesday he would consult with military commanders to determine how many troops to keep in the country to protect diplomatic and humanitarian operations, to train Iraqis and to conduct counterterrorism operations against Al Qaeda in Iraq.

"My goal is to no longer have U.S. troops engaged in combat operations in Iraq," he said.

Obama and his two traveling Senate companions, Democrat Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Republican Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, all emphasized at the news conference the need to turn U.S. attention to Afghanistan and to help Pakistan confront a growing terrorist presence within its borders.

Obama arrived in Jordan after a tour of war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq. He stepped off his military aircraft carrying body armor, orange earplugs sticking out of his ears.

His joint news conference with Reed and Hagel was at the Amman Citadel, an ancient hilltop ruin that bears evidence of settlements dating to 2000 B.C. The skyline of modern-day Amman, cement dwellings and the occasional mosque, formed a made-for-television backdrop.

Later, he held a closed-door meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah. The king afterward drove his guest to the airport in his Mercedes.

Before he left Iraq, Obama traveled to a former hotbed of the Sunni insurgency for talks Tuesday with tribal leaders who joined the fight against Al Qaeda in Iraq and now seek a deeper role in Iraq's political future.

Obama met leaders of the so-called Awakening Council movement in Ramadi, one of the main cities of the western Anbar Province where Al Qaeda once had the upper hand against embattled U.S. and Iraqi troops.

Tribal sheiks last year began an uprising against insurgents that is credited with uprooting extremist strongholds and helping bring violence around Iraq to its lowest levels in four years.

The meetings came near the end of Obama's two-day stop in Iraq, where he held discussions with Iraqi leaders on possible troops withdrawal initiatives and was briefed by top U.S. military commanders.

Obama sat in an ornate gold-colored chair next to the Anbar governor, Maamoun Sami Rashid al-Alwani. He also met with Sheik Ahmed Abu Risha, the older brother of Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, a leader of a Sunni revolt against Al Qaeda in Iraq, who was killed in Ramadi in September 2007. An Iraqi flag was draped behind them.

A spokesman for the Anbar province, Jamal al-Mashhadani, said Obama's talks included further efforts to battle Al Qaeda in Iraq and Awakening Council demands for a greater voice in Iraqi affairs.

Anbar was the birthplace of the Sunni insurgency and scene to some of the intense urban battles of the war that Obama has long opposed. U.S. forces sustained some its heaviest casualties in an offensive in November 2004 to regain footholds in the city of Fallujah.

Iraq was the third leg of a tour that's included Kuwait and Afghanistan. From Jordan, his trip moves on to Israel and Europe.

The Iraqi government appears increasingly confident to press for timeframes as violence drops and Iraqi security forces expand their roles alongside the 147,000 U.S. soldiers in the country.

"We are hoping that in 2010 that combat troops will withdraw from Iraq," the government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said Monday after Obama met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Obama released a statement late Monday noting that Iraqis want an "aspirational timeline, with a clear date," for the departure of U.S. combat forces.

The senators said that while some "forward movement" has been made on political progress, reconciliation and economic development, there has not been "nearly enough to bring lasting stability to Iraq."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.