Afghan Pullout Still Set for Next Summer

Afghan Pullout Still Set for Next Summer
June 21, 2010
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration reaffirmed Sunday that it will begin pulling U.S. troops out of Afghanistan next summer, despite reservations among top generals that absolute deadlines are a mistake.

President Barack Obama's chief of staff said an announced plan to begin bringing forces home in July 2011 still holds.

"That's not changing. Everybody agreed on that date," Rahm Emanuel said, adding by name the top three officials overseeing the policy girding the war: Gen. David Petraeus, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen.

Petraeus, the war's top military boss, said last week that he would recommend delaying the pullout if conditions in Afghanistan warranted it. Days after the date was announced in December, Gates pointedly said it was not a deadline.

Emanuel's remarks reflect the White House view that Obama must offer a war-weary American public and Congress a promise that the nearly nine-year war is not open-ended. The problem, congressional Republicans and some military leaders say, is that a fixed date encourages the Taliban-led insurgency and undermines U.S. leverage with Afghan leaders.



unhappycamper comment: If the 'war' is not open-ended, why are we still there pumping $200,000 a minute into that quagmire?

Are we 'Fighting for Peace' or 'Fucking for Virginity'? Both ideas / terms are ridiculous.

Political hacks and lobbyists have mangled the English language so much it's difficult to understand the shit they spew.

Just bring them home, Mr. Emanuel. Just bring them home.

I have never seen a date when the Afghanistan drawdown would conclude by withdrawal of our last soldier and termination of all US expenditures. Without such a projection the quagmire is truly open-ended.