Will Petraeus Thwart Obama's Timetable for Withdrawal from Afghanistan?

US Army Gen. David Petraeus (R), commander of the US Central Command and US Navy Adm. Eric Olson, commander of the US Special Operations Command testify before a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The US military may set up an additional headquarters in northern Iraq even after Washington scales back its forces by a September deadline, Petraeus said.


Will Petraeus Thwart Obama's Timetable for Withdrawal from Afghanistan?
June 27, 2010 |

US Army Gen. David Petraeus (R), commander of the US Central Command and US Navy Adm. Eric Olson, commander of the US Special Operations Command testify before a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The US military may set up an additional headquarters in northern Iraq even after Washington scales back its forces by a September deadline, Petraeus said.

Less than a year ago, General David Petraeus saluted smartly and pledged his loyal support for President Obama’s decision to start withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan in July 2011. In December, when Obama decided (for the second time in 2009) to add tens of thousands of additional American forces to the war, he also slapped an 18-month deadline on the military to turn the situation around and begin handing security over to the bedraggled Afghan National Army and police. Speaking to the nation from West Point, Obama said that he’d ordered American forces to start withdrawing from Afghanistan at that time.

Here’s the exchange, between Obama, Petraeus, and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as reported by Jonathan Alter in his new book, The Promise: President Obama, Year One:

OBAMA: "I want you to be honest with me. You can do this in 18 months?"

PETRAEUS: "Sir, I'm confident we can train and hand over to the ANA (Afghan National Army) in that time frame."



unhappycamper comment: Great. We set up 14 monster bases in Iraq and now we may build another one? More money down the Iraqhole. :(

plus increased security for oil interests.

A win-win all around