The narrative of last year's U.S. presidential election focused on two different wars: in Iraq and Afghanistan. Democratic candidates, including President Obama, Vice President Biden, and Secretary of State Clinton, argued that the Iraq war had distracted from the more important fight in Afghanistan. Now in office, President Obama finds his administration at the center of a hot debate on the future of the war in Afghanistan, and the United States at a strategic crossroads.

Will the Obama administration support a counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan designed to achieve meaningful long-term stability, or will success be defined in much more limited terms, saving the United States from a difficult reassessment and retooling for which there is little appetite? Most importantly, can the U.S. mission--with or without additional troops--succeed without a new strategy on the ground that confronts the growing Afghan insurgency?

Three and a half years after his seminal AEI address on "Winning the War in Iraq," Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) will deliver a major policy address at AEI on the path to victory in Afghanistan.

• Click here to view Senator McCain's remarks as prepared for delivery.