Prominent Democrats are warning President Obama against following a set timeline for pulling U.S. troops out of Afghanistan.
After witnessing the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s violent sweep across Iraq over the past year after U.S. troops pulled out, some top Democrats are pressing Obama to allow conditions in Afghanistan to dictate how many troops remain in the country, although the White House is sticking to its plan.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Wednesday voiced deep concern about any plan to reduce the U.S. military footprint in Afghanistan too quickly.
“If we haven’t learned about too fast a withdrawal from what’s happened in Iraq and the dissolution of the Iraqi forces in the face of an attack by [the Islamic State], that would be of serious concern,” she told the Washington Examiner.
“To leave Afghanistan precipitously — and I know we’re leaving several thousand troops there but probably not enough — and see a resurging Taliban emerge, I think is of deep concern and should be of deep concern to us,” she continued.
Feinstein was responding to comments by newly-elected Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who urged President Obama in an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday to “re-examine” his drawdown timeline.
“Deadlines concentrate the mind, but deadlines should not be dogmas,” he said.
“If both parties, or in this case, multiple partners, have done their best to achieve the objects and progress is real, then there should be willingness to re-examine a deadline,” he said.
Feinstein said she thought Ghani’s comments are “significant” because “in a sense he is acknowledging that too fast a pullout really can be detrimental to the survival of Afghanistan and the state that it hopes to be.”
“My greatest worry has been a Taliban resurgence,” she added, noting that the group controls 35 percent of the populated areas of the country and is well-funded by the opium trade.
Feinstein also worried about the fate of women’s rights there if the Taliban regains control, recalling a meeting she had with women parliamentarians she described as “resolute” in protecting the gains they had made.
“They were so resolute that this would never happen again — that women would never be rolled into a stadium again and stoned to death. And then, just after I left, the Taliban was throwing acid at girl children who were going to school,” she recalled. “So there are huge dangers in this.”
White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Monday said the United States remains committed to help Afghanistan train and equip its own security forces and fight the Taliban, al Qaeda and other terrorist threats. But he also suggested that Obama could not reconsider his plans to withdraw most troops from the country by 2016.
“The United States is prepared to continue that partnership, but as it relates to the strategy associated with our military footprint, we’ve been pretty clear what that strategy is — more importantly, the commander in chief has been clear about what that strategy is,” Earnest said.
More than 10,000 troops are in Afghanistan. Under Obama’s drawdown plan, half will depart by the end of this year and most of the rest will leave by the end of 2016.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who sits on both the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, said the conditions in Afghanistan over the next two years should dictate the U.S. troop commitment there. He also suggested that Obama could show some flexibility on his plans in the months ahead.
“The president has shown a willingness to consider facts on the ground,” he said. “I don’t think he needs to make a decision about 2016 right now.”
Kaine was referring to the Obama administration’s failed efforts to convince former Afghan President Karzai to sign a Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA, allowing a residual U.S. troop force to remain to keep training Afghan forces and maintain security.
Even before Ghani’s election, however, the new leader indicated his desire not only to sign the agreement, but also to encourage more U.S. troops to remain.
In contrast, former Iraqi President Maliki refused to sign a SOFA or allow any U.S. troops to stay in the country after 2012. But Obama’s critics, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., insist the president didn’t push hard enough to attain the agreement to allow a U.S. military presence to stay in the country.
Kaine said the administration’s push for a SOFA shows that the president’s drawdown timetable is not set in stone.
“He made a decision about the authorities to be granted for the troops that are in there in 2015 — and actually broadened the authorities for the American military there based upon based on facts on the ground,” he said.
More liberal Democrats argue that circumstances should dictate the drawdown timeline even as they hope Obama can hold fast to the current plan.
When asked about Ghani’s recent comments, Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, chalked them up as predictable.
“Every country in the world wants as much aid, security and economic as they can get from the United States, and if our resources were endless and our patience were endless then we would of course provide everything requested by all of our friends, allies around the world,” he said.
“But at this stage hopefully we will be able to stay in the timetable, but what we do will be determined by events on the ground.”
Leading critics of the timeline argue that the Taliban is simply waiting for the U.S. to leave before mounting a takeover of the government.
“The Taliban right now are not in the mood to negotiate anything that would lead to any concession that they would have to make because they see we’re leaving and they’re winning,” McCain said.
“President Ghani has stated that it would be impossible for the state to last if we don’t change the timetable for withdrawal, and that’s what our commanders are saying and that’s what everybody is saying except the president.”
McCain, chairman of the Armed Services panel, said he plans to hold hearings early this year on the issue and will ask the top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Campbell, to testify.
After talking to Ghani recently, Feinstein said he is rightly worried about the Taliban toppling his government and taking control of the country after U.S. troops depart.
“The one thing I think that Ghani wants is stability for his country,” she said. “He wants the opportunity to build economic upward mobility for his people, and he can’t do it if the country is constantly challenged by terror.”
