Trapped in Afghanistan
Sep 19, 2011

The terrible trio of Generalissimo Senators – McCain (R-AZ), Graham (R-SC) and Lieberman  (I-CT) – that are cranky about leaving “only” 3,000 U.S. troops in Iraq after the statutory deadline for full withdrawal at the end of the year are starting to beat the drums to keep troops in Afghsnitan after the 2014 deadline.

That the deadline is more than three years from now appears to be irrelevant.

When President announced in June 2011 the withdrawal of 33,000 American troops from Afghnistan by September 2011, he said that all combat troops would be withdrawn by the end of 2014.

In a recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Graham did a good job of trapping Ashton Carter, nominee to be Deputy Secretary of Defense, to endorse retraining American forces in Afghanistan beyond 2014.

Carter should have known better.

See the dialogue below.

At the end of the hearing, Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) attempted to rebuild Carter’s caareless position on Afghanistan to bring it in line with the Obama Administration’s.

Let us hope that Carter revises and extends his remarks.