Updated on
Summary
The ranking Republican on the US Senate Armed Services Committee said NATO and Afghan troops will prevail in the war if they can succeed in securing and bolstering governance in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. Sen John McCain, who visited Afghanistan's largest city in the south on Monday with two other US lawmakers, warned of tough fighting ahead and predicted that casualties would rise in the short-term. The Taliban know that Kandahar is the key to success or failure, McCain told a news conference at the airport in Kabul. So what happens in this operation will have a great effect on the outcome of this conflict. But I am convinced we can succeed and will succeed, and Kandahar is obviously the key area. And if succeed there, we will succeed in the rest of this struggle. McCain, a Republican from Arizona, also reiterated his opposition to President Barack Obama's plan to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan beginning in July 2011. Obama has said that large numbers of troops would not be pulled out if conditions did not allow, but that caveat has often gotten lost in the discussion over the length of US commitment to the war.
