Plan to begin Afghan security handover this year dropped

[zipplewrath]

Source: Guardian

Plans to begin handing control of provinces in Afghanistan to Afghan security forces by the end of this year have been quietly dropped amid fears among European countries that General David Petraeus, the new US commander in the country, is less committed to a speedy transfer of power.

The change of tack, revealed in the final communique from today's historic international conference in Kabul, reflects Petraeus's concerns that security conditions in Afghanistan are too weak for a transition of power to begin as quickly as originally planned, a Nato official told the Guardian.

Although the conference agreed that the security needs of the entire country will have to be met by the Afghan army and police by 2014, major European troop contributors were looking forward to more rapid progress in the relatively stable north and west of the country, where Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain and others have personnel.

The difficulties involved in any transition were highlighted today when an Afghan soldier killed two US civilians and one of his own comrades in Mazar-e-Sharif, one of the most stable cities of northern Afghanistan.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/20/plans-afghan-security-handover-dropped

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Cameron wants to be out by 2015, they are behind schedule, and their original goal is 2014. This draw down that is starting in 2011 is gonna be slow. They can't meet schedule in the "relatively stable" regions, I don't know how they can hope to in the more difficult regions.

[SunnySong]

1. his will be quite an important issue in the 2020 election at this current pace...

Pill out now and let the chips fall where they may.

[Fearless]

2. Surprise, surprise, surprise...

Are there any campaign promises left to break? Seriously.

[SoapBox]

3. Ditto.

I have to agree with you...I'm gett'n REAL tired of this stuff.

[Robb]

4. Um, no.

Reading the article, I don't see how changing a paragraph describing the form of the withdrawal is the same as scrapping said withdrawal.

[zipplewrath]

5. Who said anything about "scrapping"

The real issue is the time line. They can't meet it in the easy areas, but some how they will meet it in the harder ones. They have goals of 2014, but Cameron feels the need to explain to Obama in 2010 that he wants/needs to be out by 2015. Biden says the withdrawl could start with as little as 2000 in mid 2010, out of roughly 100K troops. That pace would be 50 months, or 4 years from mid 2011, putting it well into 2015. And that's if they sustain that pace. McCrystal got in trouble for suggesting that the pace couldn't be sustained. It all adds up to a commitment that is looking longer and longer, in a war that is already the longest.