Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- A top U.S. military official said Afghanistan’s security situation is getting worse, as Senator John McCain warned that there aren’t enough troops deployed in the country.

“It is serious and it is deteriorating,” Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program yesterday. “The Taliban insurgency has gotten better, more sophisticated. Their tactics, just in my recent visits out there and talking with our troops, certainly indicate that.”

McCain, a Republican from Arizona, said in an interview broadcast yesterday that General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander in Afghanistan, should specify how many troops he needs, Congress should debate it and the president should make the final decision.

McChrystal is due to provide an assessment of the U.S. security strategy by early September. President Barack Obama has made fighting a resurgent Islamist Taliban movement in Afghanistan a top priority of his Democratic administration. U.S. forces there are scheduled to reach 68,000 by year’s end.

Asked whether the U.S. has enough troops in Afghanistan, McCain responded: “We don’t.” McChrystal should “decide on exactly the number he needs” instead of delivering more general recommendations based on risk, McCain said on ABC television’s “This Week” program.

Secure Environment

The U.S. needs to “clear and hold and secure an environment for people so that political and economic progress can be made,” McCain, the Republican presidential candidate who ran against Obama last year, said in the ABC interview, taped on Aug. 21.

Afghanistan held elections on Aug. 20 and both President Hamid Karzai and his main challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, claim to be leading in the vote count. Local officials in southern provinces have been “stuffing ballot boxes” in favor of Karzai, Abdullah said at a Kabul news conference. Election monitoring groups also have reported voting misconduct in favor of Karzai.

“It was a very difficult election,” Karl Eikenberry, U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. “Taliban intimidation, especially in southern Afghanistan, certainly limited” the number of voters, Eikenberry said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program.

Vote Battle

A battle over the vote results may undermine Afghan confidence in a credible election that could strengthen the government in its fight against the Taliban. Allegations of fraud will increase the risk the election will revive Afghanistan’s historic ethnic divide between the Pashtun south, Karzai’s ancestral home and political stronghold, and the non- Pashtun north, where Abdullah has most of his political support.

McChrystal hasn’t made any decisions about asking for additional troops, said Mullen.

“His guidance from me and from the secretary of defense was to go out, assess where you are, and then tell us what you need,” Mullen said. “He hasn’t asked for any additional troops up until this point in time.”

Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said on CNN that Obama’s leadership is “critical.”

“He really can’t just leave this to the Congress, to General McChrystal, and say, folks, sort of, discuss this, after the report comes in,” Lugar said.

Al-Qaeda Camps

The Taliban controlled Afghanistan and sheltered the al- Qaeda terrorist group before being ousted by U.S.-led troops after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington.

“Afghanistan is very vulnerable,” Mullen said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. Asked about the possibility of future terrorist attacks, Mullen said al-Qaeda is “still very capable, very focused,” able to train, support and finance fighters.

Senator Joseph Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, said on CNN that the U.S. can’t allow a resurgence of the Taliban.

“We can’t let the Taliban come back,” Lieberman said. “This is as if we were in the end of the Second World War, democracy was beginning to take root in Germany and the Nazis started an offensive to take the country back. That’s what the Taliban is doing.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Blum in Washington at jblum4@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 24, 2009 00:01 EDT