Town Hall Debate - Afghanistan: How would you change stra...

SEN. OBAMA: I'll be very brief.

We are going to have to make the Iraqi government start taking

more responsibility, withdraw our troops in a responsible way, over

time, because we're going to have to put some additional troops in

Afghanistan.

General McKiernan, the commander in Afghanistan right now, is

desperate for more help, because our bases and outposts are now

targets for more aggressive Afghan -- Taliban offensives.

We're also going to have to work with the Karzai government, and

when I met with President Karzai, I was very clear that you are going

to have to do better by your people in order for us to gain the

popular support that's necessary. I don't think he has to be a

dictator. We -- we want a democracy in Afghanistan. But we have to

have a government that is responsive to the Afghan people, and frankly

it's just not responsive right now.

MR. BROKAW: Senator McCain, briefly.

SEN. MCCAIN: General Petraeus has just taken over a position of

responsibility, where he has the command and will really set the tone

for the strategy and tactics that are using -- I've had conversations

with him. It is the same overall strategy.

Of course we have to do some things tactically, some of which

Senator Obama is -- is correct on.

We have to double the size of the

Afghan army. We have to have a streamlined NATO command structure.

We have to do a lot of things. We have to work much more closely with

the Pakistanis.

But most importantly, we have to have the same strategy which

Senator Obama said wouldn't work, couldn't work -- still fails to

admit that he was wrong about Iraq