Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, said Thursday that if he becomes president he could end the war in Iraq and eliminate al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden by the end of his first term.
"The Iraq war has been won," McCain said of his vision for January 2013. " Iraq is a functioning democracy, although still suffering from the lingering effects of decades of tyranny and centuries of sectarian tension."
The Arizona senator said by then most US soldiers will be out of Iraq, although the country will still suffer from occasional violence, the dpa reported.
"Violence still occurs, but it is spasmodic and much reduced," McCain said, adding that civil war will be prevented and al-Qaeda's activities in Iraq will be defeated.
McCain also said he will work to improve cooperation between the United States and Pakistan in combating the Taliban and al-Qaeda along the Afghan border in a way that will lead to neutralizing bin Laden.
"The increase in actionable intelligence that the counterinsurgency produced led to the capture or death of Osama bin Laden, and his chief lieutenants," McCain said in a speech in Columbus, Ohio outlining the progress he would make in his first term as president.
President George W Bush launched the war on the Taliban and al- Qaeda following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but has been unable to finish off bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding n the mountainous region along the Afghan-Pakistani border.
McCain strongly backed the decision to invade Iraq in March 2003 but has since accused the Bush administration of mismanaging the conflict. He supported Bush's troop surge launched a year ago to quell rising sectarian violence and sides with Bush in refusing to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces.
The two remaining Democratic candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, have endorse setting a timeframe for the phased pullout of US forces.