McCain urges Obama to make Afghan decision now

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By ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sen. John McCain is exhorting President Obama to make a decision quickly on sending additional troops to Afghanistan, saying U.S allies are nervous and military commanders are frustrated.

Mr. McCain, Arizona Republican, said in a nationally broadcast interview Wednesday that the war policy in Afghanistan "has been reviewed time and again" and that it's now time to act.

Interviewed on CBS' "The Early Show," Mr. McCain said the drawn-out decision-making process on Afghanistan "is not helpful to our effort" in the wartorn nation. On Tuesday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Mr. Obama would announce his next step "in the coming weeks," a phrase he has used before.

In a speech, meanwhile, former Secretary of State George P. Shultz said U.S. policy should be centered on building up "local pockets" and not on devising a strong central government, which never has been part of Afghanistan's history.

"We have allowed our position to morph into creating a country that hasn't existed before," Mr. Shultz said Tuesday at a seminar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a liberal-leaning Washington think tank.