By Jeremy Pelofsky
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's plan tokeep most U.S. troops in Iraq and shift a few thousand toAfghanistan drew quick criticism on Tuesday from top Democrats,led by presidential hopeful Barack Obama who said it was notenough to combat escalating violence in Afghanistan.
Bush, an unpopular president fighting an unpopular war inIraq, said a dramatic drop in violence in that war zone wouldallow the U.S. military to shift its efforts to Afghanistan,where he acknowledged that "huge challenges" remain.
He announced some 8,000 combat and support personnel wouldreturn from Iraq by February 2009 while a fresh Marinebattalion and an Army combat brigade would go to Afghanistan byJanuary to respond to soaring attacks by Islamist militants.
"For all the good work we have done in that country, it isclear we must do even more," Bush said at the National DefenceUniversity. "As we learned in Iraq, the best way to restore theconfidence of the people is to restore basic security -- andthat requires more troops."
But any large-scale shift in U.S. forces in the two warswill be left to his successor -- either Republican Sen. JohnMcCain or Obama. Bush will leave office in January after theNovember 4 election.
Obama, who has pledged to withdraw combat troops from Iraqwithin 16 months of taking office, said Bush's plan takes toolong to shift resources to Afghanistan and its border regionwith Pakistan, where U.S. officials say they believe al Qaedaleader Osama bin Laden is hiding.
'NOT ENOUGH URGENCY'
"His plan comes up short -- it is not enough troops, andnot enough resources, with not enough urgency," Obama toldreporters in Ohio, a hotly contested state in the election.
"I will finally have a comprehensive strategy to finish thejob in Afghanistan -- with more troops, more training of Afghansecurity forces ... and more focus on eliminating the Talibanand al Qaeda sanctuary along the Pakistan border," the Illinoissenator added.
McCain has backed Bush's strategy of refusing to set atimeline for pulling troops out of Iraq and withdrawing forcesonly as security conditions in the war zone allow. But he hasalso called for more combat troops for Afghanistan.
McCain criticized Obama for opposing Bush's decision tosend 30,000 troops to Iraq last year under a policy known asthe "surge," which was credited with helping to curb violence.
"It is clear that we need additional forces in Afghanistan,and I support the new deployments," the Arizona senator said ina statement. "Sen. Obama believes we must lose in Iraq to winin Afghanistan. I want to win in Iraq and in Afghanistan."
Obama and McCain are in a statistical dead heat in the racefor the White House with the economy and two wars the top voterconcerns. The United States has 146,000 troops in Iraq and33,000 in Afghanistan.
MORE THAN TROOPS NEEDED
Bush's recommendations followed advice from top U.S.defence officials, including Defence Secretary Robert Gates,Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen and Gen.David Petraeus, the commander of forces in Iraq.
Bush, who spent the afternoon visiting with wounded U.S.troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Centre, said Petraeus heldopen the door to additional troop withdrawals from Iraq in thefirst half of 2009 but also acknowledged that the gains therewere "fragile and reversible."
Security analysts agreed, and some cautioned against thePentagon losing focus on Iraq.
"As important as Afghanistan remains, Iraq is of fargreater strategic importance to the United States," saidKenneth Pollack, analyst at the Brookings Institution thinktank in Washington.
"The United States has not won in Iraq; as much as thesituation has improved, the country is far from sustainablestability and large numbers of American troops are required fora broad range of responsibilities."
Others said that as politicians were pressing for moretroops for Afghanistan, they should not fail to address Talibanand al Qaeda safe havens inside neighbouring Pakistan.
Democrats in Congress including House Speaker Nancy Pelosiand Vietnam War veteran Sen. John Kerry also criticized Bush'splan. The House Armed Services Committee will on Wednesday hearfrom top military and Pentagon officials about the two wars.
Kerry, the failed Democratic presidential hopeful in 2004,said one brigade for Afghanistan was "woefully insufficientgiven the deteriorating situation there, and far short of thethree additional brigades that our commanders in Afghanistanhave said they urgently need."
(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Andy Sullivan andDavid Morgan in Washington and Deborah Charles in Ohio; editingby Kristin Roberts and Cynthia Osterman)
