U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said today that America should not repeat the mistakes of Iraq in the war in Afghanistan, and if President Barack Obama asks for more troops in Afghanistan, Graham will support him.

“My message to my Democratic colleagues is that we made mistakes in Iraq. Let’s not 'Rumsfeld Afghanistan,'” Graham said on CBS “Face the Nation.” “Let’s don’t do this on the cheap. Let’s have enough combat power and engagement across the board to make sure we are successful, and quite frankly, we’ve got a lot of ground to make up.”

Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said he disagreed with Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign when Obama said Afghanistan, not Iraq, is the primary battlefield in the war on terror. Circumstances have led Graham to change his mind, he said.

“I disagreed then because Iraq hung in the balance. Iraq is more stable,” Graham said. “The president is right. Afghanistan is now the central battlefield in the war on terror.”

Graham said he believes troops will be needed in Afghanistan in addition to those the president has committed as part of a new strategy in Afghanistan, and he will be surprised if Obama doesn’t ask for more as the war progresses.

“We need to secure Afghanistan,” Graham said. “It’s not secure now because we don’t have enough troops.”

Graham said the U.S. has “a lot of ground to make up” in Afghanistan, and that he is “one Republican that would support more troops in Afghanistan.”

Asked to explain his reference to Donald Rumsfeld, who was Secretary of State under former President George W. Bush, Graham said, “We went in (to Iraq) with a strategy to defeat the Iraqi army that worked. We never had enough troops on the ground to secure the population.

"When I say ‘Don’t Rumsfeld Afghanistan,’ don’t resist the idea that we’re going to need more because we are.”

The U.S will need help from allies, Graham said, both troops and money. He said Obama has gained political capital with leaders throughout the world and “hopefully they will reward the president by helping him.”