McCain to Obama: Make Afghan decision now

Afghanistan policy 'has been reviewed time and again,' says McCain

	Sen. McCain's criticism comes as President Obama weighs his options for future action in Afghanistan.
MANDEL NGAN / AFP/Getty Images

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updated 1:45 p.m. ET Oct. 28, 2009

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

McCain 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's "The Early Show," the Arizona Republican said the drawn-out decision-making process on Afghanistan "is not helpful to our effort" in the wartorn nation.

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On Tuesday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said 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 that never has been part of Afghanistan's history.

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