[Peace-discuss] Obama admin. - "US is not leaving Afghanistan in 2011"

[C. G. Estabrook]

 From 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/03/afghanistan-withdrawal-da_n_379502.html>


[Obama National Security Adviser] Jim Jones: 'This Is Not A Withdrawal.'

 From an interview by BBC North America editor Mark Mardell:

He said that "with a relentless application of this new force in 2011 we will be 
successful in reaching our goals...That will allow us to start pulling some of 
our forces out. So there is no contradiction."

I put it to him that that wasn't the way the speech had been seen in the region. 
This was his response:

"Its very important that people in Afghanistan hear this very clearly: this is 
not a withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan in 2011, it is a decision 
to turn over to the Afghans some of the responsibility where they are ready to 
accept that responsibility. But in no manner, shape or form is the United States 
leaving Afghanistan in 2011."

I asked Gen Jones whether the combination of the push in Pakistan and the new 
strategy from the United States made him more confident about killing or 
capturing Osama Bin Laden.