June 16, 2010
Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the committee’s top Republican, questioned the wisdom of establishing a withdrawal timeline, saying that it could convince “the key actors inside and outside of Afghanistan that the United States is more interested in leaving than succeeding in this conflict.”
“As a result, they’re all making the necessary accommodations for a post-American Afghanistan,” McCain said.
While, Gen. David H. Petraeus on Tuesday softened Obama administration rhetoric that a U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan would begin in July 2011, telling a Capitol Hill panel that such a move would be “based on conditions.”
“July 2011 is not the date where we race for the exits,” the general told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “It is the date where, having done an assessment, we begin a process of transition of tasks to Afghan security forces.”
Gen. Petraeus gave the testimony moments before he slumped at the witness table and excused himself from the room. The general returned about 20 minutes later, but committee Chairman Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat, postponed the rest the hearing.
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