Washington  - US President Barack Obama will meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki next week, following the pullout of US troops from Iraqi cities, the White House said Wednesday.

The two leaders will meet at the White House on July 22 to discuss the further reduction of US troops next year and the security environment, in addition to strengthening economic and cultural ties.

US soldiers withdrew from urban areas last month to comply with the June 30 deadline agreed to last year. There are about 130,000 US soldiers in Iraq. Obama hopes to cut that number in half in about a year.

A US-Iraqi agreement forged last year requires all US soldiers to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011.

Despite the sharp reduction in violence in the last two years, there has been a recent uptick of deadly bomb attacks.

Obama has expressed confidence that the security situation will allow further drawdowns, but had been frustrated by the inability of al-Maliki's government to make progress towards reconciling the country's religious and ethnic groups. (dpa)