GOP presidential candidates criticized Obama’s revision of the drawdown from Afghanistan, saying that the nearly 10,000 Americans who will stay there through most of 2016 is not sufficient to maintain stability in the country.
Still, they offered few specifics on what they would do differently if elected as the next commander in chief.
They joined a growing chorus of Republicans in Congress who have also said the president’s new plan will not be enough to continue both the counterterrorism and training missions in the country.
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The president announced earlier this week that 9,800 U.S. troops would stay in Afghanistan through most of 2016, at which point the troop level would drop to about 5,500 into 2017. The original plan had been to have only about 1,000 U.S. personnel in Iraq to protect and staff an embassy by the time Obama left office in 2017.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is No. 5 in the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings, said he agreed with the nearly-10,000 troop level, but that he would not have announced a timeline for a further drawdown since enemies could just use it to wait out a total American withdrawal.
“I’m pleased the president has not worried about a campaign promise six years ago. Conditions change,” Bush said Friday on CBS. “I think he made the right decision to keep troops on the ground but looks like it is political. Cut it in half and off we go.”
When Obama announced the changes, he did say that this likely wouldn’t be the last revision of the drawdown plan. Defense Secretary Ash Carter also told reporters that he saw the administration as willing to make more changes if the situation on the ground made it necessary.
“I think the president has shown that he is willing to depart from the plan when circumstances suggest,” Carter said. “There have been a host of circumstances since last year, of which one notable one, just to pick one, was the length of the transition between the Karzai government and national unity government, which was a long and an unanticipated way and set things back in time, so that’s a factor.”
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who also hopes to be the next commander in chief, said the slowed drawdown is a step in the right direction, but still not enough.
“I’m glad he stopped the drawdown, but it is not a sufficient number,” Rubio said Friday on Fox.
Top Republicans in Congress, including the leaders of the armed services committees in the House and Senate, also criticized the plan, warning that pulling out U.S. troops too soon could eliminate the hard-fought gains the country has made over 14 years of war, just as Iraq crumbled when all U.S. troops left.
“All of us want the war to be over, but after 14 years of hard-fought gains, the decisions we make now will determine whether our progress will endure and our sacrifices will not have been in vain,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said. “When the stakes are so high, it is hard to understand why the president has again chosen to force our military to shoulder a higher level of risk.”
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., also said the president’s changes did not go far enough and called for more U.S. troops to participate in the missions in Afghanistan.
“I think what the president is doing now is enough to contain the damage at least until he leaves office. but I still don’t see how a small number like this, whether it is 9,000 or 5,000, is going to be enough,” he said Friday on Fox.
