White House says Afghan deadline ‘non-negotiable’

[kpete]

Source: Raw Story/Agence France-Presse

The White House said Monday that July 2011 was a "non-negotiable" deadline for starting a US withdrawal from Afghanistan, while insisting that President Barack Obama and his top general in Kabul were on the same page.

The White House was quizzed about a seeming disconnect between the two after General David Petraeus said in an interview aired Sunday that he could seek a delay in the troop drawdown if conditions on the ground required it.

"I think the president has been quite clear in explaining that it's a process, not an event, and that it's conditions-based," he told NBC television's "Meet the Press" program.

"The president and I sat down in the Oval Office and he expressed very clearly that what he wants from me is my best professional military advice."

Read more: http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0816/white-house-afghan-deadline-nonnegotiable/

[fogonthelake]

1. Obama can still start the pull out -but SLOWLY, very slowly. there, they

are on the same page. problem solved.

[msongs]

2. Nobody is professionally afraid of obama lol nt

[provis99]

3. great. Our very own Nixon.

war by withdrawal timetable.

[SILVER__FOX52]

4. What is so funny, is..................

that this very point of dis-connect between the President and his General shows that nobody knows whats going on or who's in charge, which is precisely what his detractors, say. The President better put to rest, who is in charge, or Afghanistan will be his political graveyard. He looks like an idiot, already.

[bluestateguy]

5. The thing is, they did not make a numerical plegde about how many forces would be withdrawnT

They could pull out a token number of say 500-1000 in July and technically say that their promise is being kept.