ot of success over the last 15 months in Afghanistan. The conditions on the ground are far better than they were a year ago," Gates told "Fox News Sunday."   Calling President Obama "analytical" and "decisive," Gates would not get into what recommendations he has offered the president on plans to withdraw troops beginning next month. However, that drawdown appears to be under way already. Last week, Gates confirmed that at least 800 troops will leave Afghanistan next month and won't be replaced. The 2009 surge approved by Obama put 33,000 more troops into Afghanistan on top of 100,000 American forces already there.  But with the cost piling up and Americans growing tired of a 10-year war, many Republicans are beginning to join Democrats who oppose keeping American forces in the East Asian nation. Gates said he recognizes the Republican turnaround from the typically more hawkish stance on war policy, attributing it to "war weariness" that is taking its toll on U.S. nerves and patience. But he said those tired of war must look toward the horizon. "This country has been engaged in two wars every day in the four and a half years I've been secretary of defense. So, I fully appreciate that. Believe me, there's nobody more war-weary (than the Pentagon) at this point," he said. "But the president's responsibility ... is to look out for the long-term national security interest of the United States. He has to have a longer view." Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who ran against Obama in 2008, went further in criticizing his party than Gates. McCain said Republicans calling for the removal of U.S. troops from conflicts in Afghanistan and Libya, which the U.S. began strikes against 90 days ago, have lost their way from the core philosophy of the party.  "This is isolationism. There's always been an isolation strain -- isolation strain in the Republican Party, the Pat Buchanan wing of our party. But now it seems to have moved more center stage, so to speak," McCain said on ABC's "This Week."  Suggesting that President Ronald Reagan would not recognize the GOP today, McCain said the United States abandoned Afghanistan once before and paid a very heavy price for