The Obama administration reaffirmed Sunday that it will begin pulling U.S. troops out of Afghanistan next summer, despite reservations among top generals that absolute deadlines are a mistake.
President Barack Obama’s chief of staff said an announced plan to begin bringing forces home in July 2011 still holds.
“Everybody knows there’s a firm date,” Rahm Emanuel said, days after the war’s top military boss, Gen. David Petraeus, said he would recommend delaying that pullout if conditions in Afghanistan warranted it.
Emanuel’s remarks reflect the White House view that Obama must offer a war-weary American public and Congress a promise that the nearly nine-year war is not open-ended. The problem, congressional Republicans and some military leaders say, is that a fixed date encourages the Taliban-led insurgency and undermines U.S. leverage with Afghan leaders.
Days after it was announced in December, Defense Secretary Robert Gates pointedly said the date was not a deadline.
Gates pledged Sunday that some troops would begin to leave in 13 months, but he was more cautious.
“We clearly understand that in July of 2011, we begin to draw down our forces,” Gates said. “The pace with which we draw down and how many we draw down is going to be conditions-based.”
Emanuel spoke on ABC’s “This Week.” Gates appeared on “Fox News Sunday.”