US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, visiting Afghanistan as part of an overseas tour, today called the situation there "precarious and urgent" and urged that more American troops be deployed there soon.
The US senator from Illinois met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai today, the second day of a trip meant to bolster his foreign policy credentials.
"We have to understand that the situation is precarious and urgent and I believe this has to be the central focus, the central front, in the battle against terrorism," Mr Obama said in an interview with the CBS program "Face the Nation.
Mr Obama said he believed US troop levels need to increase and that the United States should start planning now for a shift of American soldiers from Iraq to Afghanistan.
"I think the situation is getting urgent enough that we have to start doing something now," he said.
Mr Obama is visiting Afghanistan and Iraq as part of an overseas tour that will also include stops in Europe and the Middle East.
Mr Obama has previously criticised Mr Karzai, who has led Afghanistan since US-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001, but said the purpose of this trip was to listen rather than deliver strong messages.
Mr Obama is part of a congressional delegation meeting Mr Karzai at his heavily guarded presidential palace.
Mr Obama will also visit Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and Britain on a foreign tour he hopes will help answer Republican criticism that he does not have the experience to be commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
Mr Obama last week criticised Mr Karzai in an interview with CNN.
"I think the Karzai government has not gotten out of the bunker and helped to organise Afghanistan, and the government, the judiciary, police forces, in ways that would give people confidence. So there are a lot of problems there," he said.
Mr Karzai has come under increasing criticism at home and abroad for failing to take tough action to clamp down on rampant corruption, tackle former warlords and stamp out record-breaking drug production - all factors that feed the growing Taliban insurgency.
Mr Obama has made refocusing US attention on terrorist threats in Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan a centrepiece of his campaign for the November presidential election.
He opposed the Iraq war and has proposed sending about 7,000 more troops to Afghanistan.
Mr Obama has also criticised the effectiveness of Mr Karzai and his Western-backed government.
Earlier today, Mr Obama had breakfast with US troops at a military base in Kabul.