Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Sunday said the situation in Afghanistan, where he earlier met with President Hamid Karzai, is “precarious and urgent.”

The Democratic presidential candidate argued that the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan is “the central front” in the fight against terrorism.

To be successful, he said, the Afghan government and the U.S. need to do more. Obama stated that additional troops are needed but emphasized that the time to do so is now, not when a new president takes office.

“I think it’s important for us to begin planning for those brigades now,” he said. “If we wait until the next administration, it could be a year before we get those additional troops on the ground here in Afghanistan, and I think that would be a mistake. I think the situation is getting urgent enough that we have got to start doing something now.”

To solve the problem, Obama stressed the importance of involving Pakistan. He advocated putting pressure on the government to do more to find and fight al Qaeda leaders and close down terrorist camps.

“I will push Pakistan very hard to make sure that we go after those training camps,” he said. “I think it's absolutely vital to the security interests of both the United States and Pakistan.”

On Iraq, where he is expected to go next as part of a swing through the region and Europe, Obama stated that he is seeing some “token efforts” of the different factions to come together and address the country’s problems.

“If we have a timetable and they suddenly see an urgency behind the fact that the American troops are going to be leaving and that they need to get their act together, then this is the perfect moment for us to say we are going to shift our resources, we’re going to get a couple of more brigades here into Afghanistan,” Obama said, adding that he also wants to increase aid to Pakistan and Afghanistan in return for a stepped up commitment to go after terrorists and insurgents.