McCain says US must listen more to European allies on key issues
PARIS (AFP) — Republican nominee John McCain said in an interview published Saturday the United States must show it is listening to its European allies while also standing firm on issues like the war in Afghanistan.
The US presidential candidate, who met France's President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris Friday, told the French daily Le Monde he is grateful to Paris for its help in Afghanistan even though Washington would have liked this support to be on a larger scale.
McCain said he was not in Europe to criticise US allies, but instead hoped they would lend a hand in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and its economy.
He said the United States has good relations in particular with France, Germany and Britain, as well as eastern European states, all of which he said stand together against Islamic fundamentalism.
Since Sarkozy was elected last year, he has engaged in a friendlier relationship with the United States than his predecessor Jacques Chirac, who strongly opposed the US invasion of Iraq.
McCain defended the war in the interview, saying that he was absolutely certain of success and that the problem was not the US presence in Iraq, but rather the loss of American lives.
On the subject of Iran, McCain said he holds similar views to Sarkozy and would like to see stronger economic and diplomatic sanctions than those currently being enforced by the UN Security Council.
