Petraeus Downplays Afghan Withdrawal Date
On "Meet the Press", General Petraeus downplayed the July 2011 withdrawal date from Afghanistan:
Gen. David Petraeus continues to downplay the importance of the July 2011 timeline to begin a drawdown of American forces in Afghanistan during an interview broadcast Sunday.
Appearing in a pre-taped interview from Kabul that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan said that the process will be conditions-based and stressed that he’s willing to recommend the president push back the timeline to start sending troops home.
“I don't find it that stifling,” he said. “I'm not bowed over by, you know, the knowledge that July 2011 is out there. In fact the president has been very clear, Vice President [Joe] Biden has been very clear as well more recently that this is a date when a process begins, that is conditions-based. And as the conditions permit, we transition tasks to our Afghan counterparts and the security forces and in various governmental institutions, and that enables a quote ‘responsible’ drawdown of our forces.”
The interview with NBC host David Gregory is Patraeus's first since taking over from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who the president relieved of his command after he made incendiary comments to a magazine reporter.
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