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Barack Obama continued Tuesday to downplay the results of the so-called troop surge in Iraq, telling CBS News that while he credits the surge with helping to reduce violence in Iraq it “doesn’t meet our long-term strategic goal.”

Earlier, Obama — in the middle of an overseas trip that so far has taken him to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Jordan — had drawn criticism from John McCain’s campaign after he told ABC News that, knowing what he knows now, he still would have opposed the troop surge in Iraq.

Asked about that comment, Obama said in his latest interview with CBS News that “there’s no doubt” spending billions a month in Iraq and sending extra troops will “have an impact.”

“But it doesn’t meet our long-term strategic goal, which is to make the American people safer over the long term,” he said, repeating his argument that the resources spent in Iraq are detracting from U.S. efforts in Afghanistan.

The Illinois senator again said the surge is just one of several factors that has helped reduce violence.

“There is no doubt that the extraordinary work of our U.S. forces has contributed to a lessening of the violence, just as making sure that the Sadr militia stood down or the fact that the Sunni tribes decided to flip and work with us instead of with Al Qaeda,” he said.

Obama earlier in the day declined to rate the troop surge as a success, saying: “I think that the definition of success depends on how you look at it.

“Originally, the administration suggested that the key measure was whether it gave breathing room for political reconciliation. So far, I think we have not seen the kind of political reconciliation that’s going to bring about long-term stability in Iraq,” he said.

McCain told CBS News that Obama’s view of the surge is “really quite a commentary.”

Asked what he meant by that, McCain said: “That Senator Obama does not understand the challenges we face and … the need for the surge. And the fact that he did not understand that, and still denies that it has succeeded, I think the American people will make their judgment.”

Click here to read the transcript of Obama’s interview with CBS News.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.