(17 Jun 2011) HEADLINE: Gates begins farewell visits with troops
CAPTION: Retiring Defense Sec'y. Robert Gates says his worry is that troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan too soon. Gates is there assessing the situation on the ground ahead of an expected decision by Pres. Obama on the start of troop withdrawal. (June 5)
Robert Gates/Secretary of Defense
("General Petraeus will make his recommendations and it will really depend on the conditions on the ground how many actually begin to leave. And, you know, for my money, the question is, if it were up to me, I'd leave the shooters 'til last...I have confidence that we'll strike the right balance. And its really, its really not so much where you start, but what the next year and a half to two years looks like. And, I think we have to look at it strategically like that and not just focus on the front of this and whatever number gets announced in July."))
STORYLINE:
FORWARD OPERATING BASE WALTON, Afghanistan _ A soon-to-begin U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan should leave combat power intact as long as possible to press an anti-Taliban offensive, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday. He said support troops should go first.
On his final trip to assess a war in its 10th year, Gates told soldiers the endgame in Afghanistan is more likely to turn out well if the drawdown promised by President Barack Obama begins with an emphasis on removing noncombat forces rather than the infantry and others still trying to cement recent gains against a resilient Taliban.
"If it were up to me, I would leave the shooters for last," he said.
The final decision is Obama's. The commander in chief soon will receive from Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, a range of options on how to begin the withdrawal in July and how to pace it over perhaps 18 month to 24 months, Gates said at this dusty logistics base in Kandahar province.
Military commanders typically want to keep as much firepower at their disposal as they can, for as long as they can, to achieve their mission. In the case of Afghanistan, the White House wants to ensure that the president's oft-repeated promise to begin a withdrawal in July yields more than a token gesture. The war has grown increasingly unpopular in Congress.
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