Waging war over Afghanistan

2008-07-17 09:52

Washington - Barack Obama's camp branded Republican rival John McCain's Afghanistan plans as "surreal" on Wednesday in a sharp new twist to a crucial political struggle over US war strategy and foreign policy.

McCain's camp fired back that his Democratic White House foe was making policy blindly before even visiting Afghanistan, seizing on polls showing lingering concerns about Obama as a potential US commander-in-chief.

"Yesterday, John McCain woke up and discovered Afghanistan, his speech was surreal," Obama foreign policy advisor Susan Rice said, referring to a McCain rebuttal of the Illinois senator's plans for Iraq and Afghanistan.

"He has no credible plans for either conflict and its resolution," Rice said on a conference call.

"He wants to stay indefinitely at high troops levels in Iraq, regardless of the situation. At the same time, he says he wants to surge in Afghanistan without reducing our presence in Iraq."

"The whole thing is utterly illogical."

The Obama camp branded McCain a flip-flopper for calling on Tuesday for three extra combat brigades to be sent to Afghanistan, after earlier saying more troops were not necessarily the answer to worsening security conditions.

The McCain campaign pre-empted the Obama attacks with its own broadside against the Illinois senator, who is expected to soon travel to Afghanistan and Iraq. Details of the trip have not been released for security reasons.

'The central front in the war on terror is not Iraq, and it never was'

"By committing to a policy for the war in Afghanistan before he visits the country and meets with our commanders ... Barack Obama has shown he views foreign policy through a lens of ideology rather than through looking at facts," said McCain's spokesperson Tucker Bounds.

In a major foreign policy address on Tuesday, Obama reiterated his promise to get most US combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months, and to focus on al-Qaeda havens in Pakistan and worsening conditions in Afghanistan.

"As should have been apparent to President (George W) Bush and Senator McCain - the central front in the war on terror is not Iraq, and it never was," Obama said in his speech.

"Al-Qaeda has an expanding base in Pakistan that is probably no farther from their old Afghan sanctuary than a train ride from Washington to Philadelphia," Obama said.

"We cannot tolerate a terrorist sanctuary, and as president I won't," he said.

McCain accused Obama of being "wrong" about the US troop surge strategy in Iraq and said he was guilty of idle bluster on Pakistan policy.

"Senator Obama will tell you we can't win in Afghanistan without losing in Iraq," McCain said, though added that the "status quo" in Afghanistan was not acceptable.

Recent polls showing Obama leading the overall race by high single figures but reveal a McCain advantage on national security.

In a Washington Post/ABC News survey 50% of voters said they trusted Arizona Senator McCain to lead better in a foreign policy crisis, against 41% for Obama.

Eighty-two percent of those surveyed in a CBS/New York Times poll said McCain, a former navy pilot, would be an effective commander-in-chief, while only 62 percent felt Obama would be effective.

- AFP