WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Monday it had ordered its embassies to limit the help they give visiting presidential candidates Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain so as to avoid violating U.S. laws.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cabled the advice to all U.S. diplomatic posts on Thursday, the day that Obama left on a trip that has taken him to Afghanistan and Iraq and will include stops elsewhere in the Middle East and in Europe.

The cable bars U.S. diplomats from setting up meetings for the candidates, arranging receptions or public events and from using official "funds and resources, beyond a de minimis level, to support a political trip."

However, it said the embassies could assist the candidates' Secret Service protective details and provide "de minimis" help on logistical matters, for example giving the trip organizers information on how to make local travel arrangements.

U.S. diplomats are also allowed to help Obama and McCain with anything related to their Senate work and to provide classified briefings to ensure they were up to speed on recent developments and U.S. policy positions.

State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said "the same basic information" in the cable was given to relevant embassies when McCain traveled abroad earlier this year but he declined to immediately provide copies of those communications.

Under U.S. law, there are restrictions on the partisan political activities of federal employees to prevent government workers from exerting undue influence on elections.

"It is imperative that in implementing these various requirements we treat both major presidential candidates evenhandedly," the cable said.

McCain visited Iraq in mid-March, his eighth trip to the country since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The Arizona Republican supported the decision to invade Iraq.

Obama, an Illinois Democrat who has made his opposition to the invasion the centerpiece of his campaign, is making the foreign trip in part to bolster his foreign policy credentials. He is also expected to visit Jordan, Israel, Britain, France and Germany.

(Editing by Eric Beech)

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