Obama briefs skeptical lawmakers about his new Afghanistan strategy

Posted By Josh Rogin Tuesday, December 1, 2009 - 11:36 PM Share

Several lawmakers from both sides of the aisle told President Obama directly Tuesday afternoon they are concerned about his July 2011 time frame for beginning the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, according to Sen. Kit Bond.

Bond briefed The Cable exclusively upon exiting Tuesday afternoon's meeting between several senior lawmakers and the president ahead of tonight's strategy announcement. Obama called on the legislators to support his new strategy both rhetorically and financially, Bond said, but lawmakers pushed back on Obama's plan to announce that he intends to begin handing off security responsibility to the Afghan government in only 18 months' time.

"I was concerned about beginning the exit in July 2011 because we need a success strategy and not an exit strategy," Bond said, adding that "several others from both sides raised that as well."

Among the other senior senators Bond identified as speaking about their concerns over the withdrawal timeline were Senate Armed Services Committee ranking Republican John McCain, R-AZ and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-CA. Bond is the top Republican on the intel panel.

Obama acknowledged the senators' concerns but explained the time-frame decision as reflecting the administration's desire to "make sure that [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai knew he had to get the security forces built up quickly," according to Bond.

The president also reiterated that the pace and endpoint for the drawdown would be determined by the conditions on the ground, to which Bond said senators asked Obama whether he or the commanders on the ground would make that call. Obama indicated such details were still tentative, according to Bond.

Regardless, Obama asked the lawmakers to get behind the new strategy despite their reservations and "said he expected support from everybody," Bond said. Obama's argument was that the United States spends so much for national security that there was no good reason to short-change this important effort now.

The meeting lasted for about an hour and some but not all of the lawmakers present had opportunities to speak for a couple minutes only. Shortly after, Obama boarded Air Force One on the way to West Point, where he will announce his new strategy to the world at 8 p.m. tonight.