In recent months, Obama has soft-pedaled on his plans to begin withdrawing the approximately 100,000 US troops currently stationed in Afghanistan next year, stressing instead his goal of handing over security to Afghans by 2014.

The New York Times reported that Obama would present a four-year plan to gradually phase out US and international forces in Afghanistan during a NATO summit in Lisbon Friday and Saturday.

Republican Senator John McCain, who lost his White House bid to Obama in 2008, said that during his talks in Lisbon, Obama should give a "very, very strong statement that we're in this thing to win, that withdrawal to the middle of 2011 is notional, but 2014 is really the year that we would expect to have significant withdrawals."

McCain was speaking at a foreign policy forum after returning from a trip to Afghanistan last week with other lawmakers. The lawmakers met with President Hamid Karzai and other Afghan leaders during their visit.

Obama "should not make decisions (about) where we're sending young men and women into harm's way based on political consideration," McCain said, noting a provincial chief warned him that Taliban militants are threatening to kill those who cooperated with the United States.

"That's not the tradition of Harry Truman or Franklin Delano Roosevelt, or other great leaders in America's history."

McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, acknowledged that next summer there would likely be areas in northern Afghanistan and elsewhere where the United States could begin withdrawing troops.

But he noted that a strong US presence was still urgently needed in key Taliban strongholds in the south and east, close to the border with Pakistan.

Fellow Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who also participated in the Afghanistan trip, agreed it was more realistic to wait another three years before withdrawing US forces.

He told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that "2014 is the right date to talk about. That's when Karzai suggests that Afghans will be in the lead, and I'm very pleased to hear President Obama talk about 2014."

Karzai raised eyebrows in Washington by calling in a weekend interview for a reduction in night raids by US forces and a lighter US military footprint to pare down "intrusiveness" in daily Afghan life, prompting US lawmakers to react with dismay.

His comments, which appeared to contravene the US military's counter-insurgency strategy, also put Karzai squarely at odds with US and NATO commander General David Petraeus, who has made capturing and killing militants a key priority.

Petraeus himself expressed "astonishment and disappointment" over Karzai's remarks, and warned they could undermine progress against the Taliban-led insurgency, The Washington Post reported.

Days after returning from her trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said she had "grave concerns" about Karzai's role as a US ally, citing widespread corruption in his strife-torn homeland.

Gillibrand told reporters on a conference call that Karzai had taken positions "contrary to America's interests," citing criticisms of the Afghan leader on "rampant" corruption and the flourishing drug trade.

But the Senate Foreign Relations Committee member said she remained "hopeful that we can work together" and brushed aside a question about whether Karzai seemed erratic, saying "I can't speak to what's in his head."

Gillibrand said Karzai "did express concerns about civilians" at a meeting on Wednesday but "did not make a direct request" regarding US troops levels or activities.

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