Posted on 11/09/2010 8:35:14 PM PST by kristinn
The Obama administration has decided to walk away from what it once touted as key deadlines in the Afghanistan war in an effort to de-emphasize the president's pledge that he would begin withdrawing U.S. forces in July 2011, administration and military officials said Tuesday.
The new policy will be on display next week during a NATO conference in Lisbon, Portugal, where the administration hopes to introduce a timeline that calls for the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan by 2014, according to three senior officials and others speaking anonymously as a matter of policy. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said Afghan troops could provide their security by then.
The Pentagon also has decided not to announce specific dates for handing security responsibility for several Afghan provinces to local officials and instead intends to work out a more vague definition of transition...
SNIP
"During our assessments, we looked at if we continue to move forward at this pace, how long before we can fully transition to the Afghans? Of course, we are not going to fully transition to the Afghans by July 2011," one senior administration official said. "Right now, we think we can start in 2011 and fully transition sometime in 2014."
Another official said the administration also realized in contacts with Pakistani officials that the Pakistanis had concluded wrongly that July 2011 would mark the beginning of the end of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.
That perception, one Pentagon adviser said, has persuaded Pakistan's military — key to preventing Taliban sympathizers from infiltrating Afghanistan — to continue to press for a political settlement instead of military action.
"This administration now understands that it cannot shift Pakistani approaches to safeguarding its interests in Afghanistan with this date being perceived as a walkaway date," the adviser said.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
What do the libs think about this?
Daily KOS is just melted with rage :)
“What do the libs think about this?”
libs think?
Paging Mrs. Clinton!
Sadly, that was probably his only consideration.
Well, all right then. 2014 it is - mind you, that would be midway through the term of the next President whoever she turns out to be. I mean he, of course. In any case, it’s one of those little peculiarities of military planning that one stipulate what one intends to accomplish before withdrawing the troops. I don’t see anything like that here. The date is irrelevant - what’s the plan?
I’m searching the DUmp but I haven’t found anything yet.
Three more years??
The entire Left Wing will come unglued. What do you suppose the margins would have been in both the Senate and the House had he mad this announcement before the elections??
Rotten manipulative bastards. Anyone who read Woodward’s book knows what utter hypocrisy and BS this is.
Isn’t it great how the MSM gives Hussein a pass on these issues (Iraq and Afgan.) Not to mention they no longer keep us updated on troop casualties, like they did when Bush was Pres.
Hypocrites.
Two words that NEVER belong in a sentence together = libs and think!!!
My son deploys to Afghanistan this coming Spring, and my fears for him are 1000 fold worse than when he was in Iraq.
Even Barbara Lee would have had trouble getting reelected if Obama had put this out the week before the election instead of the week after.
I understand. Hopefully Gen. Petraeus is influencing this change.
The list, ping
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It is far worse that that but idiots who watch TV including Al Waleed’s Fox don’t get it. Al Waleed invests Saudi Arabia’s money for his uncle the King.
The US govt, military, intel agencies have all been infiltrated by islamics, muslim brotherhood moles and Hassan types.
The King got him in the white hut and he and islam want to see the American military humiliated, destroyed and our troops killed. Keep watching TV because TV keeps Obama in power. The Saudis have deals with ALL 6 TV networks which own all the TV channels.
The networks sold you out to gain access to 1.8 billion viewers in islamic countries plus you alsoi have been sold out by multinationals who sell consumers goods and other things there.
They don’t care. Obama is their guy. He can do whatever he wants. He could start another war and the libs would not care. He is getting mostly conservatives killed in uniform which makes them happy
The left just looked for ways to attack Bush.
hussein is finding out that the world is in fact a dangerous, unfriendly place. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan aren't so easily won, or even swept aside.
Hey all you lurkers/obama supporters, how's that on-the-job-training thing working there? Your boy hussein can't even figure out how to close one prisoner camp (Gitmo) let alone run two wars. I'd bet hussein couldn't even lace up a set of Army boots without help.
I pray that Gen. Petraeus continues to be in charge of the Afghanistand compaign.
Obama has walked away from being a leader. He would rather just be king.
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