Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr., leading a congressional delegation to Central Asia this week, is giving President Hamid Karzai, the man who has led Afghanistan since late 2001, a hefty to-do list if results from Thursday's national election show that he has retained his job.

Speaking to reporters in a conference call yesterday after moving on to Pakistan, he said Mr. Karzai is far too laid back about the institutional problems racking his nation.

"He needs to show a much greater sense of urgency on the responsibilities he has ... to his own people to deliver the services a responsible, functional government has to deliver to keep order and make the progress we expect," Mr. Casey said. "I think he has a lot to prove, especially in the next couple months."

The senator, who chairs the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs, which has jurisdiction over Afghanistan and Pakistan, was joined by Sen. Sherrod Brown and Rep. Zack Space, both Ohio Democrats. They spent Sunday and yesterday in Afghanistan and are in Pakistan today.

The conflict, now in its eighth year, has become the foreign policy focus for President Barack Obama, who is withdrawing from Iraq in favor of focusing more resources on Afghanistan and tribal areas across the border in Pakistan.

In contrast to his harsh words for Mr. Karzai, Mr. Casey heaped praise on the new commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who took the post in June. "He has not just in command of this mission -- his counterinsurgency mission -- but also has the respect of both the other military leaders that serve under him and the respect of his colleagues from other nations as part of this effort, as well as respect of civilian leadership," Mr. Casey said.

Gen. McChrystal is preparing a review of the war's strategy. Reports from the region suggest that the military situation is deteriorating as Taliban militants have grown stronger, and more forces may be necessary to fight them. Mr. Obama agreed to send 17,000 more troops earlier this year.

Any review of strategy must contain a clear map to success, in contrast to the shifting goals and missions in Iraq, Mr. Casey said. The American public's view of Afghanistan will be colored by the failures in Iraq, he said, adding: "I know the American people need a sense of benchmarks, a sense of progress over the next six months and the next several years."

In an ABC News/Washington Post poll taken Aug. 13-17, 51 percent of respondents said the Afghan war, all things considered, was not worth fighting. In the same poll, 45 percent said U.S. forces should be reduced there, compared with 24 percent wanting an increase and 27 percent saying the number of troops should be unchanged.

In addition to meetings in Kabul, Mr. Casey's delegation traveled to Afghanistan's southern provinces, where fighting has been most severe. He praised several Afghan officials and said the ability to hold a wartime election last week was an impressive achievement.

Mr. Casey said the delegation plans to meet with various government and military officials in Pakistan today and will address security in that country's militant-thick northwest as well as its citizens displaced by the fighting there.