President Barack Obama faced criticism from foes and allies on Sunday after his decision to delay immigration reform until after November's midterm elections.

Republicans and Democrats both condemned Obama's decision, announced on Saturday, to delay using his executive power to break the deadlock until after this year's polls.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday urged the rival candidates in Afghanistan's disputed election to come to an agreement on a national unity government to end the crisis over the vote.

Both presidential candidates claim to have won the June 14 election, triggering a political stalemate and rising ethnic tension as US-led NATO combat troops withdraw after 13 years of fighting the Taliban.

Secretary of State John Kerry discussed Saturday the Islamic State threat with the head of the Arab League, ahead of the group's next round of discussions.

President Barack Obama will wait until after November's midterm elections to reform the U.S. immigration system with his executive power, seeking to shield lawmakers crucial to Democratic Party hopes of clinging on to the Senate.

The move, announced by a White House official Saturday and immediately condemned by immigration reform advocates, followed calls by vulnerable Democrats battling for reelection in conservative states for him to avoid action that could energize Republican voters.

Iraq on Saturday welcomed U.S. President Barack Obama's plan for an international coalition against jihadists as a "strong message of support", after repeatedly calling for aid against the militants.

Obama outlined a plan at a NATO summit Friday for a broad coalition to defeat the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, which led an offensive that overran chunks of five Iraqi provinces in June and also holds significant territory in neighboring Syria.

The U.S. and its allies are trying to hammer out a coalition to push back the Islamic State group in Iraq. But any serious attempt to destroy the militants or even seriously degrade their capabilities means targeting their infrastructure in Syria.

That, however, is far more complicated. If it launches airstrikes against the group in Syria, the U.S. runs the risk of unintentionally strengthening the hand of President Bashar Assad, whose removal the West has actively sought the past three years. Uprooting the Islamic State group, which has seized roughly a third of Syria and Iraq, may potentially open the way for the Syrian army to fill the vacuum.

U.S. plans to forge a coalition to defeat Islamic militants are not modeled on the global front brought together for the heavily-criticized 2003 invasion of Iraq, American officials insisted Friday.

"When we talk about what we are doing today, in no way do we want to resemble anything that was done in 2003 in the invasion of Iraq," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday he was confident he could gather a broad international coalition to defeat Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria, following two days of talks at the NATO summit, as Washington said it does not intend to cooperate with Iran over the terrorist group's threat.

"I leave here confident that NATO allies and partners are prepared to join in a broad, international coalition," Obama said after a meeting of the Western military alliance in Wales.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and the patriarchs of the Orient are expected to hold talks with U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of a conference in Washington.

The conference, which will be held on September 9,10 and 11, aims at discussing the situation in the Middle East and the conditions of Christians, As Safir newspaper reported on Thursday.

President Barack Obama will lead a U.N. Security Council session on the threat of foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria on September 25, a US official said Wednesday.

The meeting will take place at the level of heads of state or government and coincide with the annual United Nations General Assembly, according to U.S. envoy Samantha Power.