Defense Secretary Robert Gates pushed back against calls by Congress for the administration to set a timeline for withdrawing US forces from Afghanistan, as unease about the White House's handling of the war grows on Capitol Hill and among the public. In two television interviews, Mr. Gates argued that the Afghan war was vital to US national security. Laying out a timeline for removing American troops from Afghanistan would be "a strategic mistake" that could embolden al Qaeda and the Taliban, he said on CNN's "State of the Union."
Mr. Gates waded into the political debate over Afghanistan at a pivotal moment in the eight-year-old war. The Obama administration is conducting a broad review of its strategy for the conflict as it weighs a request from the top American commander in Kabul, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, for up to 40,000 US reinforcements. About 65,000 American troops are now in Afghanistan. Gen. McChrystal completed the formal request several weeks ago, but delayed submitting it to the Pentagon at the request of Mr. Gates and other senior Defense Department leadership. The commander was expected to send the classified report to Mr. Gates over the weekend...
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This discussion mirrors the debate our nation was having in 2004-2006 in reference to Iraq. Some senior political leaders are demanding a time table be set for the withdrawal of our military forces from Afghanistan. I would submit that a withdrawal timeline is important, but as it relates to mission accomplishment. We as a nation have to define what successful mission accomplishment is in Afghanistan. I do not believe it can be tied to a timeline. There has to be established measures that we gauge our success by. The USG must have a focused endstate it is looking to achieve in Afghanistan. What is our desired endstate to operatins conducted in Afghanistan? Whatever our objectives are, any discussion of a withdrawal from Afghanistan without having met our objective goals will be viewed by our adversaries with much delight. No matter the reality, the perception in key regions that we are trying to influence will be that we lost our national will to continue this fight and we gave in to our collective adversaries. We must deliberate diligently to define what our goals are, and then allocate the resources necessary to accomplish them. Once we have met our goals, then I think it would be prudent to discuss our withdrawal stategy and timeline.