Clinton says Afghanistan requires ‘more attention’

WILMINGTON, N.C. – Hillary Rodham Clinton said the assassination attempt Sunday on the Afghan president shows the U.S. has failed to give proper attention to Afghanistan.

Clinton noted how she had met Karzai, and said, “He is a brave man trying under very difficult circumstances to hold that country together, and we have not given him the resources he needs.”

Afghanistan needs “as much, if not more, attention” as Iraq, she said.

Clinton was speaking at a rally along Cape Fear in North Carolina, which, along with Indiana, holds its primary May 6. She returned to the southern state, where Barack Obama is favored, after spending two days campaigning in Indiana and appealing to working-class voters who have helped propel her to victory in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Polls show a much closer race in Indiana between the two Democratic candidates.

Speaking in a broadcast interview Sunday, Obama said race is not the reason he is struggling to attract working-class votes and insisted he can win over uncommitted superdelegates by showing he is “best able to not just defeat John McCain, but also lead the country.”