WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates criticized Congress Friday for providing less money than President Bush requested to prosecute the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates says war funding must be consistent and not done in "fits and starts."
In a news briefing after one year on the job, Gates said the military needs consistent funding to build on gains accomplished in Iraq after a surge of U.S. troops there.
The House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday containing $70 billion for military operations in the two countries -- less than half of what Bush wanted.
Gates said "funding the war in fits and starts is requiring us to make short-term plans and short-term decisions," and to hold off on paying for new equipment and supplies, training and "other activities important to deploying a ready and effective force."
Discussing Iraq, Gates said he hopes the U.S. military will go ahead with planned troop withdrawals next year -- if conditions warrant.
"It'll be completely dependent on the circumstances on the ground," he said. "And we obviously want to sustain the gains that we have already made."
Senior military commanders announced plans in September to withdraw five brigade combat teams from Iraq by the middle of next year.
"The war is far from over," Gates said Friday. "And we must protect and build on the gains earned with the blood of our military, our allies and our Iraqi partners."
Violence flared in Afghanistan this year, the secretary said, even though U.S. troops and their NATO allies have inflicted heavy losses on Taliban fighters and made gains in efforts to rebuild the country and strengthen civic institutions.
Even so, Gates said, "NATO's efforts to rebuild and secure the country must be sustained and expanded into next year and beyond."
The secretary said al Qaeda has re-established itself in some frontier regions of neighboring Pakistan and has focused its attacks throughout the country.
"Al Qaeda right now seems to have turned its face toward Pakistan and attacks on the Pakistani government and Pakistani people," Gates said. "The Pakistani army has had some success in their counterinsurgency effort" in one of those frontier provinces. E-mail to a friend 
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