Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Monday on the latest stop of his high-profile overseas tour as the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Obama arrived at al-Maliki’s Green Zone headquarters where he also met with U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker as well as Iraqi national security adviser Mawaffak al-Rubaie, according to the New York Times. The senator also met briefly with Gen. David Petraeus, but is scheduled to have another meeting with him at a later time.

In what he described as a “wonderful visit” with al-Maliki, Obama discussed details of U.S. military involvement in the country as well as his plans for eventual withdrawal. After meeting with the Prime Minister, Obama met with Sunni politician Tariq al-Hashimi, for further discussion. The Illinois senator expressed optimism about progress in Iraq after the meetings.

“You see the activity that is taking place, the people in the shops, the traffic on the streets, clearly there’s been an enormous improvement,” he said, according to the Times.

Monday morning, Obama’s presidential rival Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, said he hopes Obama’s visit will cause him to rethink his strong stance against the war.

Obama’s visit to Baghdad followed a morning trip to Iraq’s second-largest city, Basra, where he met with Iraqi and U.S. military leaders and American troops at military base. The Illinois senator is traveling with Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., who are accompanying him during his trip through Europe and Afghanistan.

The presumptive Democratic nominee, a long-time opponent of the war in Iraq, has proposed a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq within 16 months, and a recent article in the German magazine Der Spiegel has raised controversy after reporting al-Maliki’s alleged support of his plan.

The magazine reported that al-Maliki was largely in support of Obama’s timeline, although a spokesman for the Iraqi government said the magazine’s translation of an interview with al-Maliki was inaccurate. A translation provided by the New York Times quotes al-Maliki as saying: “Obama’s remarks that — if he takes office — in 16 months he would withdraw the forces, we think that this period could increase or decrease a little, but that it could be suitable to end the presence of the forces in Iraq.”

McCain has lambasted Obama for his stance on an Iraq withdrawal, saying the Democrat should rely on reports from top military advisers on the ground rather than public pressure to back out of the war.

However, even the Bush administration, which has defended U.S. action in Iraq and resisted the idea of a timeline for withdrawal, signaled a change in its stance last week, saying the U.S. had reached an agreement with al-Maliki to set a “general horizon” for a withdrawal.”

“For the first time in the national security debate, Obama’s advisers believe that McCain has been placed on the defensive, since his reluctance to support a ‘time horizon’ now differs not only with the position of his Democratic opponent but also with those of the White House and the Iraqi prime minister,” Politico’s David Paul Kuhn wrote.