Speaking at the Pentagon this week, Marine Corps Commandant General James Conway didn't mince words when discussing President Barack Obama's July 2011 date to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. Conway said the assigned date is giving the Taliban "sustenance," reports the Huffington Post
The comments by Conway are the most blunt comments by a top military official of a timetable widely criticized by opposition Republicans and others, who say it empowers the Taliban to wait out an eventual U.S. withdrawal and then go on the attack, according to the Huffington Post.
"In some ways, we think right now it is probably giving our enemy sustenance," Conway said of the July 2011 deadline. Conway also reportedly said, "though I certainly believe some American units somewhere in Afghanistan will turn over responsibility to Afghan security forces in 2011, I do not think they will be Marines. ...I honestly think it will be few years before conditions on the ground are such that turnover will be possible for us."
