Obamas advisers disagree on Afghan pullout plan

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Obamas advisers disagree on Afghan pullout plan

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Polls show increasing dissatisfaction in lawmakers as war cost could reach $120 billion this year.

01 April,2011 04:33 am

Gen David Petraeus, the top allied commander in Afghanistan, has not presented a recommendation on the withdrawal to his superiors at the Pentagon, but some senior officers and military planning documents have described the July pullout as small to insignificant, prompting deep concern within the White House. During a meeting of his war cabinet this month, President Obama expressed displeasure with such characterisations of the withdrawal, according to three senior officials with direct knowledge of the session. The differing views about the withdrawal illustrate the unresolved tensions between Obama’s military and civilian advisers over the decision to send more troops to Afghanistan in a last-ditch attempt to salvage a failing war. Although military officials contend that the surge has enabled US forces to blunt the Taliban in key areas over the past several months, White House officials remain sceptical that those gains will survive without the presence of American troops and without US financial aid. The war’s cost which is estimated to reach $120 billion this year, and polls that show increasing dissatisfaction, even among Republicans, with a mission that has turned into a complicated nation-building endeavour.