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| Afghanistan | |
| McCain, Graham back 2014 Afghan withdrawal | |
| 2010-11-16 | |
| WASHINGTON — Key US Republican Senator John McCain became the latest lawmaker on Monday to call on President Barack Obama to maintain troops in Afghanistan until 2014, amid reports he is weighing such a timetable. In recent months, Obama has soft-pedaled on his plans to begin withdrawing the approximately 100,000 US troops currently stationed in Afghanistan next year, stressing instead his goal of handing over security to Afghans by 2014. The New York Times reported that Obama would present a four-year plan to gradually phase out US and international forces in Afghanistan during a NATO summit in Lisbon Friday and Saturday.
McCain was speaking at a foreign policy forum after returning from a trip to Afghanistan last week with other lawmakers. The lawmakers met with President Hamid Karzai and other Afghan leaders during their visit. Obama “should not make decisions (about) where we’re sending young men and women into harm’s way based on political consideration,” McCain said, noting a provincial chief warned him that Taliban militants are threatening to kill those who cooperated with the United States. “That’s not the tradition of Harry Truman or Franklin Delano Roosevelt, or other great leaders in America’s history.” McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, acknowledged that next summer there would likely be areas in northern Afghanistan and elsewhere where the United States could begin withdrawing troops. But he noted that a strong US presence was still urgently needed in key Taliban strongholds in the south and east, close to the border with Pakistan. Fellow Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who also participated in the Afghanistan trip, agreed it was more realistic to wait another three years before withdrawing US forces. He told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that “2014 is the right date to talk about. That’s when Karzai suggests that Afghans will be in the lead, and I’m very pleased to hear President Obama talk about 2014.” | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 Well tw, he promised me that if I liked my health insurance plan I would be able to keep that plan. It turns out I can't because it doesn't meet government standards. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2010-11-16 18:58 |
| #3 What Glenmore said. Besides, we've noticed that President Obama has on occasion radically changed his fixed position on something, depending on changed reality. It's only on things he feels strongly about, like health care and stimulus for the boys, where he'll bull through regardless. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-11-16 16:39 |
| #2 Every promise made by Bambi, without exception, has an expiration date. Let's establish a 2012 expiration date on his promises. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-11-16 08:06 |
| #1 Lindsey Graham and John McCain. Okaaay. And we have McCain saying, "Obama should give a very, very strong statement that weÂ’re in this thing to win". Okay. That's not going to happen, John. So McCain isn't really about fixing the problem, he's like a little kid in a kindergarten waving his hand saying, "Teacher, call on me, I have the right answer". Yeah. Okay. BFD. If it's not going to happen then it isn't the right answer but you get an A+ John for the correct hypothetical response. Good for you. And Lindsey Graham.. sheesh. Tea anyone? |
| Posted by: Martini 2010-11-16 03:21 |