KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged steadfast aid to Afghanistan in talks Sunday with its Western-backed leader and vowed to pursue the war on terror “with vigor” if he is elected, an Afghan official said.

On the second day of an international tour designed to burnish his foreign policy credentials, Illinois Sen. Obama and other U.S. senators held two hours of talks with President Hamid Karzai at his palace in the capital.

Obama has chided Karzai for not doing more to build confidence in his government, whose grip remains weak after the ouster of the Taliban in 2001.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Mark Stroh said Obama and the senators discussed issues including the painstaking rebuilding of the country’s government and economy, the security situation and corruption with Karzai.

The Afghan presidency said Obama’s message was positive.

“Sen. Obama conveyed ... that he is committed to supporting Afghanistan and to continue the war against terrorism with vigor,” said Humayun Hamidzada, Karzai’s spokesman.

Both Democrats and Republicans “are friends of Afghanistan and no matter who wins the U.S. elections, Afghanistan will have a very strong partner in the United States,” Hamidzada said.

Obama has made Afghanistan a centerpiece of his proposed strategy for dealing with terrorism threats. The Illinois senator has said the war in Afghanistan, where Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants are resurgent, deserves more troops and more attention as opposed to the conflict in Iraq. Both Obama and his Republican rival for the presidency, Sen. John McCain, advocated sending more forces to the country.

In an interview broadcast Sunday in the United States, Obama described the situation in Afghanistan as “precarious” and “urgent,” and said the U.S. should not wait to begin the planning that would be needed to send in more troops.

As he has before, Obama said “one of the biggest mistakes we made strategically after 9/11 was to fail to finish the job here. We got distracted by Iraq.”

But as troops sent to Iraq as part of the buildup of forces there begin to leave, Obama says one to two brigades should be sent to Afghanistan to bolster efforts here.

“The situation is precarious and urgent here in Afghanistan and I believe this has to be our central focus, the central front in our battle against terrorists,” Obama told CBS News.

“Now, we have a chance, I think, to correct some of those errors,” he said. “If we wait until the next administration it could be a year before we get those troops on the ground.”

While officially part of a congressional delegation on a fact-finding tour also expected to take him to Iraq, Obama traveled in Afghanistan amid the security accorded a likely Democratic nominee for president rather than a senator from Illinois.

Media access to Obama was limited, and his itinerary in the war zones was closely guarded. Traveling with him were Sens. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, and Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island.