Jon Huntsman sounds 'a little slow and a little cautious' himself on troop drawdown in Afghanistan

[flpoljunkie]

Huntsman would not really give George Stephanopoulos' a definitive answer to the question how many more than 10,000 troops would he drawdown over the next year, only saying 'We'll get more serious about the numbers at some point.' And, Stephanopoulos did not press him. President Obama reportedly plans to draw down 30,000 troops by the end of 2012.

One day after announcing his candidacy for commander-in-chief, Jon Huntsman told me he would pursue a more aggressive approach than that favored by President Obama and many top Republicans for withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan.

Huntsman said Obama’s expected plan to bring home 10,000 troops this year and all 30,000 surge troops by the end of 2012 is “a little slow and a little cautious.”

“I think over the next year there’s room to draw down more… More than 10,000 over the next year,” he said. “I think we have to see -- nine years and 50 days into this conflict, the money that has been spent on both conflicts, well over $1 trillion, I think we have to say, ‘What have we accomplished in Afghanistan?’”

http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2011/06/jon-huntsman-favors-faster-afghanistan-drawdown-calls-axelrod-claim-nonsense.html

[AtomicKitten]

1. He is definitely starting to wander from his definitive platform of

dealing with the debt and ending the war in Afganistan.

Presidenting isn't always as precise as we would like.

k&r

[flpoljunkie]

2. He was definitive though on the #1 issue for the GOP--'tax increases are off the table'

[AtomicKitten]

3. He's embracing the very worst of the GOP platform.

And quite frankly that makes me happy. He'll go down with the Ryan Budget like the rest of the GOP.

[flpoljunkie]

4. Indeed. Same old, same old Republican ideas that have not worked and won't work

[flpoljunkie]

5. Here's the transcript of the drawdown exchange...

(Emphasis mine)

GS: President Obama is likely to say that up to 10,000 troops will come home this year, all the surge troops – 30,000 – by the end of 2012. Does that sound like the right exit strategy to you? Because in the past you’ve said that without that, we’re “wasting our money and wasting our strategic resources.”

JH: It sounds a little slow and a little cautious, when you look at one out of every six Defense Department dollars going in support of what we’re doing in Afghanistan.

GS: So you would withdraw more now?

JH: I think over the next year there’s room to draw down more.

GS: How many more?

JH: Well, we’ll get serious about the numbers at some point, but I think more aggressively than is likely to be on the table.

GS: More than 10,000 over the next year?

JH: More than 10,000 over the next year. I think what you want to be left with is a good counter-terror capability, intelligence collection capability, some training capability. I think we have to see -- 9 years and 50 days into this conflict, the money that has been spent on both conflicts, well over one trillion dollars, I think we have to say, ‘What have we accomplished in Afghanistan?’

http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2011/06/jon-huntsman-favors-faster-afghanistan-drawdown-calls-axelrod-claim-nonsense.html