The White House on Monday insisted that there would be a “real drawdown” of U.S. forces from Afghanistan starting next month, though President Obama has not decided how many troops would be withdrawn or how quickly. Obama met Monday with his national security team to discuss the pace of the withdrawal given that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been killed and the decade-long war continues to drag on at a cost of about $2 billion a week.
The president already faces dwindling public support for the conflict and congressional pressure for a swifter withdrawal of troops following bin Laden’s death. Given the shifting situation on the ground, Obama’s own advisers are divided on how quickly troops should be withdrawn.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and other military commanders are pushing for a modest drawdown of forces next month. They are concerned that withdrawing too rapidly would undermine the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan that took years to showcase gains.
Others, including Vice President Joe Biden, advocate for a swift withdrawal of troops.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney sought to downplay the schism inside the administration, saying the drawdown debate was about the numbers of troops, “not policy,” and that the president would stand by his campaign pledge to reduce the U.S. presence in Afghanistan.
“The president has yet to make a decision on the numbers,” Carney said. “It will be a real drawdown, but it will be dependent on conditions on the ground. The policy decision has been made. This is a step along the way of implementing that policy.”
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday also dismissed talk of dissension among Obama’s advisers.
“There have been no decisions made,” she said.
Obama is awaiting recommendations from his military commanders, Carney said, but he declined to offer further details of the internal discussions. Obama is expected to deliver a major address on his Afghanistan policy later this month, administration officials said.
The president pledged to initiate a withdrawal of troops this year after he dispatched 30,000 more to Afghanistan in December 2009. All troops would be removed by 2014, he said.
“I intend to follow through on that commitment that I made to the American people,” Obama said Monday in an interview with Hearst Television.
Under Obama’s watch, the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan has tripled to 100,000. Officials previously anticipated a withdrawal of 3,000 to 5,000 troops in July.
Though most voters are focused on the economy, the decision on the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan could have political implications for Obama. Nearly 60 percent of the American public now opposes the war, according to a recent Associated Press poll.
If Obama fails to deliver a significant withdrawal, he risks alienating his liberal base, which has long been clamoring to end the military action in a country that appears years — if not decades — away from a stable government.
