Obama: Afghanistan Will Be ‘Tougher Job’ Than Iraq

Barack Obama says his visit to Afghanistan during his trip abroad helped him realize the “daunting” effort needed to stabilize Afghanistan, believing that in the long term Afghanistan will be a “tougher job” than Iraq.

“Looking at the landscape and the extraordinary poverty involved, makes you realize what a daunting task our efforts there are going to be,” Obama told Time in an interview.

“It redoubles my belief, or deepens my belief, that if we’re going to get that done we’re going to have put in more resources. Both issues [Iraq and Afghanistan] are very difficult. Both situations are very difficult, but it is not clear to me that in the long term Afghanistan isn’t a tougher job than Iraq is.”