US drawdown raises concern

U.S. President Barack Obama

      President Barack Obama bet on continued progress in Afghanistan during his speech Wednesday night when he announced that all 33,000 surge troops would be withdrawn by summer 2012 — right in the middle of next year's US election season and Afghanistan's fighting season.

        Obama's decision overruled the advice of his military commanders and came with a declaration that the surge had succeeded and "the tide of war is receding" with the death of Osama Bin Laden, the apparent disarray of Al-Qaeda and the Taleban losing ground.

                "President Obama's speech on Afghanistan reflected the American consensus that the purpose of the US engagement in that country is largely completed." said Ibish.

        "The bottom line for the United States should be that Afghanistan is not a threat to regional security or a base for international terrorists." said Ibish.

        Military experts here are publicly uttering what they say the generals cannot: The withdrawal's second phase comes at a bad time, threatening the success of the whole campaign.

        The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said that Obama's Afghan timetable was more aggressive than he and his senior commanders had been prepared to accept and "support the president's decisions."

        At a Senate hearing Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed that the administration's focus was snow shifting to a longer-term development and political reconciliation, including "very preliminary outreach to members of the Taleban."

        Afghan President Hamid Karzai welcomed the plan, and immediate withdrawal of foreign forces could stop "pointless bloodshed".