Biden, McCain spar over Afghan buildup

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden says the Obama administration’s new surge-and-exit troop strategy in Afghanistan serves notice on the Karzai government that “you now have to step up to the ball.”

A day after President Barack Obama outlined his plan to send 30,000 additional troops, Biden said on CBS’s “The Early Show” that the announcement of a plan to commence withdrawal by July 2011 wasn’t intended to make the surge “more palatable” to the American public.

But Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who lost to Obama last year, said he disagrees with suggesting an endgame. McCain, appearing on CBS, said he supports Obama’s strategy generally. But he also said that signaling a likely withdrawal date is “sounding an uncertain trumpet” to America’s friends in the region.