‘I cautioned against Afghan pullout’

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A powerful US Senator has said that he personally cautioned against setting a date for withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan but asserted that US President Barack Obama is committed to the draw down of his forces from the war torn country beginning July 2011. “Was it a mistake for the President to set a date?” Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was asked on the popular Charlie Rose Show.
“Well, you know, not if you can have those other ingredients working correctly and in place. Right now we don’t. I personally cautioned against a date simply because I think that it was very difficult for people in Afghanistan at this current moment to, at the same time as we’re setting it, accept the notion that they’ve got a future, that there’s a prospect for them of security and safety and sufficient success,” Mr Kerry said in response.
“So I think it’s a clouded picture as a consequence. But I don’t think it has to stay that way. I think we have the ability, hopefully, to keep the message to the Afghans about the pace needing to pick up, about their responsibility to carry this at the same time as we successfully make some things happen that embolden them to believe that they can in fact do that,” he said.
Observing that Mr Obama may have to at some point in time, Mr Kerry said it is possible that may arise as a question here as the US goes forward. “For the moment, I think David Petraeus has definitely signed on with a clear understanding as to what the ground rules are in the President’s mind and what the President’s policy is,” he said.