AFP - President Barack Obama's administration on Tuesday sought to allay fears in Baghdad that a dramatic upping of the war effort in Afghanistan would come at the expense of its Iraq commitment.

Just hours before Obama was to announce a surge of 30,000 more troops to the Afghanistan, the White House said Vice President Joe Biden had called Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in a bid to assuage Iraqi concerns.

"The Vice President stressed that US actions to reinforce Afghanistan will not come at the expense of the US-Iraq bilateral relationship," a White House statement said.

Six-and-a-half years after a US-led invasion, the war in Iraq has recently appeared eclipsed by tense White House talks about the way forward in Afghanistan.

Since entering the Oval Office in January, Obama has vowed to withdraw US combat troops by August next year and to completely pull out of Iraq by the end of 2011.

Although the bloodshed in Iraq has eased in recent months, grim predictions remain about a rise in violence ahead of elections early next year.

The election was originally slated for January 16, but Iraq's deeply divided parliament has yet to pass a law to govern the polls.

Biden welcomed Maliki's efforts to ensure the vote goes ahead.

"The Vice President commended Prime Minister al-Maliki for working to find a solution to the election law impasse and encouraged an arrangement that would be fair to all sides and that would allow for national elections," the White House said.