US should boost troops in Afghanistan: McCain

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Veteran Republican Senator John McCain, the other day, insisted more US troops needed to be sent to Afghanistan to help quash a bloody Taliban-led insurgency.
Obviously we need to increase the number of the Afghan military, but we proved in Iraq that just an increased training and size of the military doesnt do it, McCain told AFP.
Asked if that meant he believed it was now necessary to send more American troops to Afghanistan, he added: That will have to be.
McCain, defeated by his Democratic rival Barack Obama in last years White House race, was an early supporter of the previous administrations controversial surge when it poured some extra 20,000 troops into Iraq in 2007.
And he highlighted that the Iraqi military collapsed without the increase in number of (American) troops that was necessary.
His comments followed a blunt warning to President Obama from influential Democratic Senator Carl Levin, who insisted Washington should strengthen the Afghan army and police before sending in more US troops.
We should increase and accelerate our efforts to support the Afghan security forces in their efforts to become self-sufficient in delivering security to their nation before we consider whether to increase US combat forces above the levels already planned for the next few months, Levin told the Senate.
But McCain hit back saying: In response to Senator Levin: weve seen this movie before it didnt work in Iraq and it wont work in Afghanistan.
He did not give a figure for how many extra US troops should be sent to Afghanistan with the numbers already set to reach 68,000 by the end of the year, saying he was awaiting the recommendations by the top US commander there, General Stanley McChrystal. But its along the line of what we had to do in Iraq, McCain added.
McChrystal has recently delivered a classified assessment of the US strategy there and is widely expected to request another increase in US force levels amid deteriorating security conditions in Afghanistan.