US to leave Afghanistan soon | Dawn report

[Last Hope]

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama will soon make a decision on drawdown of troops from Afghanistan, the White House said on Tuesday.

On Monday afternoon, President Obama received briefings on progress in implementing US strategy for Pakistan and Afghanistan following the death of Osama bin Laden.

A day before the meeting, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephoned Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and discussed the situation with him. “The president received an update on our efforts to ensure effective cooperation with Pakistan against Al Qaeda and other violent extremists,” said a White House statement.

Vice-President Joe Biden, Secretary Clinton, the CIA chief, US ambassadors in Kabul and Islamabad and other senior officials attended the meeting. Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Commander of the US and allied troops in Afghanistan, Gen David Petraeus, participated via video conferencing. Secretary Gates has been urging a slowed-down withdrawal from Afghanistan, while Vice-President Biden and some other officials favour a substantial drawdown of troops to begin soon.

A Pentagon press release issued in Washington on Tuesday showed that while the Obama administration expedites its contacts with Taliban leaders to probe a possible reconciliation, US military leaders prefer dealing a decisive blow to the insurgents before sitting with them to seek a negotiated settlement to the Afghan conflict.

“I leave Afghanistan today with the belief that if we keep this momentum up, we will deliver a decisive blow to the enemy and turn the corner on this conflict,” the press release quoted Secretary Gates as saying.

At the White House, Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters that while President Obama was ready to make a decision on a pledged drawdown of troops from Afghanistan, he has not yet received recommendations from Gen Petraeus.

The drawdown of troops “will obviously be a decision he makes relatively soon in keeping with the commitment he made when he announced his strategy back in December of 2009, that a drawdown would begin in July of 2011,” Mr Carney said.

President Obama is yet to decide how many troops he will call back from Afghanistan.

“We have always said that it would be real. There were sceptics who suggested at the time when the president announced his policy that the July 2011 date for the beginning of a drawdown was not real. It will, in fact, begin then,” he said.

Earlier, at the Afghan-Pakistan situation room meeting, Secretary Gates briefed President Obama on his recent trip to Afghanistan.

“The group also discussed our strategic partnership with Afghanistan and the progress being made to build and sustain the Afghan National Security Forces and the president`s upcoming videoconference with President Karzai on Wednesday,” the White House said.

Meanwhile, a poll conducted last week shows that 43 per cent of Americans say the war is worth fighting, compared with 31 per cent in March. But a majority of Americans still say the war, which is in its 10th year, is not worth fighting, despite Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden`s elimination


Link to report | Dawn

 

[CardSharp]

Many Americans seem excited about a possible fast drawn down now that OBL has shuffled off, but the feeling I am getting is that America is taking a huge chance as it is in Afghanistan without a faster drawn down. It is banking on bringing the Taliban into negotiations and leaving some semblance of a Afghan government that will stand long enough for them to get their foot out of the door and say "we gave you the best chance we could"

Dejavu

 

[sur]

...“I leave Afghanistan today with the belief that if we keep this momentum up, we will deliver a decisive blow to the enemy and turn the corner on this conflict,” the press release quoted Secretary Gates as saying.
...

To me, Gates ment "Pak" when he said "enemy"...

& by "Final Blow" he ment this...

 

[Awesome]

With the US gone the Afghan government would have to play by the normal rules of diplomacy. It cannot keep up the rhetoric against Pakistan and then go like Oh btw, can you let in these tons of aid supplies and all of our trade in from your ports?

Right now with the US around these things are a guarantee. US leaving can be a good thing if our leaders don't revert back to the same old, same old. We should not support a Taliban, shariah implementing government in Afghanistan. Maybe support the Pro-Pakistan leaders (by that I do mean warlords, since even todays Afghani leaders are warlords) to come back into the existing Afghan constitution. This will allow us to also push for bringing our own FATAville into the Pakistani constitution.

The US should also use its influence with India as it departs to let there be peace between Pakistan and India. India holds all the cards to disrupt the peace, as all it needs to do is some meddling around, then Pakistan will respond, then Afghanistan will respond and we're back to 1995. There has been enough war here and the desire to say enough is enough has never been this strong. Given the opportunity for peace, most people will take it.