Almost nine years after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, the conflict is at a critical juncture as President Barack Obama pours in tens of thousands more troops to try to break the back of a fierce Taliban insurgency.

Obama's decision to accompany the military surge with a July 2011 target date for beginning a US withdrawal has been criticized as a wrong-headed invitation to the Taliban to stick it out and wait for them to leave.

But Biden suggested the president had chosen the correct strategy which rightly puts the onus on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to step up to the plate, root out corruption and train up his own national police and army.

"You have got to get in the game. We're not here forever. We cannot want the security of your country more than you want it," Biden urged Afghan leaders during a trip to Iraq timed to coincide with the Independence Day holiday.

His comments to MSNBC came the day after General David Petraeus formally took over command of the Afghan war. His predecessor was sacked by Obama for a scathing interview in which Biden was mocked and referred to as "Bite Me!"

General Stanley McChrystal's remarks about the vice president and other senior members of Obama's administration were seen as sowing division between the war's civilian and military leadership.

But Biden insisted on Monday that Obama and his generals were united, saying: "The president's strategy is General Petraeus's strategy, the defense department's strategy, and a unified strategy."

Perhaps seeking to underline the unity between the war's civilian and military leadership, Obama held a conference call on Monday with Petraeus and the US ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, who originally opposed the surge strategy according to leaked cables earlier this year.

Obama "congratulated General Petraeus on the change in command, underscored that his thoughts are with them and their teams on this holiday weekend, expressed his appreciation for their sacrifice, and reiterated the importance of our vital mission in Afghanistan," a White House statement said.

Last December, Obama announced he was sending an extra 30,000 soldiers to Afghanistan in an effort to regain the upper hand against a resurgent Taliban, and said he would begin withdrawing from the country in mid-2011.

Despite assurances from Obama -- reiterated Sunday by Petraeus -- that the change of command does not mean a change in strategy, the general has already hinted some tweaks could be in the air.

Troops have complained that McChrystal's "courageous restraint" rule, aimed at minimizing civilian casualties, prevents them from properly defending themselves -- thus contributing to the spike in casualties.

A total of 102 foreign soldiers died in June, almost triple the May toll and far outstripping the previous highest monthly figure of 77 in August.

As casualties mount, opinion polls show the war is becoming more unpopular at home and criticism from Obama's political opponents is intensifying.

Leading Republican senator and Vietnam War hero John McCain slammed the July 2011 target for beginning to pull US troops out of Afghanistan in an interview from Kabul on Sunday with ABC News.

"I know enough about warfare," said McCain, who was a prisoner-of-war for five-and-a-half years. "If you tell the enemy that you're leaving on a date certain, unequivocally, then that enemy will wait until you leave."

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