World / Barack Obama McCain Adopts Obama's Afghanistan Position Stance on US vs. NATO troops appears to soften By Jonas Oransky, Newser Staff Posted Jul 15, 2008 5:12 PM CDT Copied Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., right, meets with Sgt. Timothy Brown, left, and Sgt. Thomas Prasenski in the Capitol Rotunda. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook) John McCain suddenly switched both schedule and policy today, transforming a speech about jobs into one on Afghanistan, and echoing Barack Obama's argument for sending in new brigades. Obama has long said more troops are needed in Afghanistan, but McCain has repeatedly contended that NATO should pick up the slack, the Huffington Post reports. In switching to a more-troops-soon position, McCain even said he wanted "at least three" new brigades, to Obama’s suggested "at least two." Furthermore, McCain appears to have backed off his insistence that NATO forces should make up any personnel increases in Afghanistan, as he argued as recently as last week. (More Barack Obama stories.) Report an error