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Obama Wars Title: Petraeus Says U.S.'s July 2011 Troop Pullout From Afghanistan May Change General David Petraeus said the July 2011 deadline for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan is “conditions based” and could change depending on his assessment of progress. “This is a date when a process begins, that is conditions based,” Petraeus said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” today. “And as the conditions permit we transition tasks to our Afghan counterparts and the security forces and in various governmental institutions and that enables a, quote, responsible drawdown of our forces.” Petraeus is leading a force of 142,000 U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops who are in the midst of an offensive to try to push the Taliban out of their stronghold in Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan. Petraeus has held the command for less than two months after replacing General Stanley McChrystal on June 30. Petraeus said he doesn’t know where Osama bin Laden is hiding, adding that it has taken the al-Qaeda leader four weeks to get a message out in the last year, which “indicates literally how far buried he is probably in the very, very most remote and mountainous region.” In order to start transitioning troops out of Afghanistan by the deadline the president has set, certain conditions are going to need to be met, Petraeus said. The situation on the ground, not politics in Washington, will be the driving force behind a troop withdrawal, he said. Taliban Role Leaders in Afghanistan will have to decide how much a role members of the militant Islamic Taliban will have in the country’s government, Petraeus said. The Taliban controlled Afghanistan and sheltered the al-Qaeda terrorist network before they were ousted by a U.S.-led invasion of the country following the Sept. 11 attacks. Afghan leader Hamid Karzai has said the Taliban needs to accept the constitution, lay down their weapons, renounce al- Qaeda, and be productive members of society, Petraeus said. “I think that there can be low and midlevel reintegration and indeed some fracturing of the senior leadership that could be really defined as reconciliation,” Petraeus said. Petraeus said he talks with Karzai about once a day, with “forthright” conversations that deal with difficult issues for both of them, he said. Military Advice “What the president very much wants from me, and what we’ve talked about in the Oval Office, is the responsibility of a military commander on the ground to provide his best professional military advice, leave the politics to him,” said Petraeus. “The president has been very clear that this is a date when a process begins, and is conditions-based.” When asked about his own political aspirations, Petraeus ruled out the possibility of ever running for president. He will run for the office “no way, no how,” he said in the interview. “I am not a politician and I will never be. I say that with absolute conviction,’ he said. The war in Afghanistan is unpopular with the American public. According to an NBC News, Wall Street Journal poll conducted this month, 68 percent of Americans believe the war in will not end successfully compared with 32 percent who do. U.S. and allied soldiers in Afghanistan are dying at the fastest pace in the war, now nine years old and the longest in U.S. history.
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#1. To: WhiteSands (#0)
Someone needs to remind Petraeus that he doesn't get to make 'that call'...
Never swear "allegiance" to anything other than the 'right to change your mind'!
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