- MENU
- HOME
- SEARCH
- WORLD
- MAIN
- AFRICA
- ASIA
- BALKANS
- EUROPE
- LATIN AMERICA
- MIDDLE EAST
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Benelux
- Brazil
- Canada
- China
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- India
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Korea
- Mexico
- New Zealand
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- Poland
- Russia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Taiwan
- Turkey
- USA
- BUSINESS
- WEALTH
- STOCKS
- TECH
- HEALTH
- LIFESTYLE
- ENTERTAINMENT
- SPORTS
- RSS
- iHaveNet.com
By Jules Witcover
Here is the implication of the weekend interviews given by Gen. David Petraeus: When President Obama's timetable to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan arrives next summer, if necessary the general will be able to get his boss to blink.
In repeated responses in television and newspaper talks, Petraeus suggested that Obama had left some wiggle room in the pullout timetable, allowing for consideration of conditions on the ground at the time. And Secretary of Defense Robert Gates hinted that the beginning of the withdrawal could be only token, to meet Obama's commitment.
But Obama's clear intention in imposing a timetable on his agreement last December to a 30,000-troop surge was that it would be a do-or-die last test of the counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan. The message was that it would either work or it would end, as public opinion at home desired.
As noted by
On
Despite the disappointing military developments in combating Taliban strongholds, both Petraeus and the
But what that mission is in terms of the earlier strategy agreement is not the defeat of the Taliban insurgency outright. Rather, it is to achieve sufficient stability of the regime in Kabul to deny the remnants of the al-Qaida perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks sanctuary to operate from the country, and to track them down along with other terrorist elements.
One of the major outcomes of the long discussions of Obama and the
A condition of Obama's agreement to the surge was a refocus away from the nation-building objective of the previous Republican administration, and the inclusion of a firm timetable for beginning the combat troop withdrawal 18 months later (that is, a year from now).
While not explicitly stated, the timetable clearly was a political sop to antiwar Democrats in
With the next presidential election year looming when the withdrawal deadline arrives, if the surge forces are still in place Obama will have hell to pay with his own party and with much of this country as well.
So any eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation between Petraeus and Obama down the road over withdrawing from Afghanistan would constitute huge fireworks, for all the assurances now that they are in agreement on the current course of the war.
Available at Amazon.com:
At War with the Weather: Managing Large-Scale Risks in a New Era of Catastrophes
© Jules Witcover
WORLD | AFRICA | ASIA | EUROPE | LATIN AMERICA | MIDDLE EAST | UNITED STATES | ECONOMICS | EDUCATION | ENVIRONMENT | FOREIGN POLICY | POLITICS
World - Afghanistan Timetable Remains a Factor of Uncertainty | Global Viewpoint