Gates: Not Wait

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY JET – The Obama administration needs to decide on a war strategy for Afghanistan without waiting for a government there to be widely accepted as legitimate, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday.

Gates' comments put him at odds with top White House and NATO officials who are balking at ordering more troops and other resources to Afghanistan until the disputed election crisis there is resolved.

The Pentagon chief called the Afghan elections — and the larger issues of curbing corruption in its government — "an evolving process."

"We're not just going to sit on our hands, waiting for the outcome of this election and for the emergence of a government in Kabul," he told reporters en route to Tokyo.

"The outcome of the elections and the problems with the elections have complicated the situation for us. But the reality is, it's not going to be complicated one day and simple the next," he said. "We're going to have to work with this going forward, and I believe the president will have to make his decisions in the context of that evolutionary process."

Ball's in your court, Mr. President. Have you got what it takes?