July 2011 - START of Afghanistan withdrawal. 2014 - FINISH of Afghanistan withdrawal.

[Bolo Boffin]

Yes, it really is that simple. Whenever people say that Obama is messing around with the Afghanistan withdrawal, remember this.

July 2011 is when troops start leaving. How fast and how many is based on conditions on the ground. But July 2011, some troops are coming back and not being replaced.

2014 is the proposed date that all troops will be gone. It could be sooner than that, based on conditions on the ground! But by 2014, Obama plans to be out.

Don't let trifling rightwingers and idiotic controversy-seeking media figures confuse the issue. Everything Obama has said and will say harmonizes completely with those two basic facts:

July 2011 - Start.
2014 - Finish.

[DrDan]

1. interested in a bridge? I have a great one over here . . .

[Bolo Boffin]

2. No, thanks. n/t

[Bonobo]

3. You believe it takes 3 years to withdraw?

A simple yes or no will suffice.

No equivocation is wanted or needed.

[Bolo Boffin]

4. "It could be sooner than that, based on conditions on the ground!" Read the OP. n/t

[Scurrilous]

5. Thanks.

K & R :thumbsup:

[Bolo Boffin]

7. Thank you.

Sometimes things are simple, and it hacks me off to see articles like the ones I've been reading just mess things all up for no good reason.

[meow mix]

6. haaaahaaha what a scam..

pull a few troops out for the election, then whups!! guess what another "surge" is needed.

have zero faith in these "democrats"

[Bolo Boffin]

8. Well, I'm glad to meet someone more Democraticier than me. n/t

[meow mix]

10. your supporting our never-ending quagmire of death?

i cannot stand these policys. getting ashamed of this party, and sickened.

[Bolo Boffin]

12. No one's forcing you to be in the party.

I don't like America being in Iraq or Afghanistan, either. However, we are there, and pulling out precipitously would be worse than staying there. If Obama thinks he can do a measured withdrawal without destroying efforts at peace, I believe him. He did it in Iraq.

Now, back to your pure heart. Don't mind us.

[lamp_shade]

9. K&R

[jeanpalmer]

11. If conditions on the ground get worse

or stay the same, will troops be withdrawn?

Why will troops be withdrawn if conditions on the ground don't improve?

How is Obama able to know what conditions on the ground will be in July 2011?

[Bolo Boffin]

13. As I understand it, if things don't get better, what more can we do?

We get out.

However, if things improve, and the handover to Afghan security forces can begin, we do so. And with three years to do it in, we can adapt.

Of course, no one knows what conditions on the ground will be in July 2011. A review is happening in December.

But Obama has been remarkably consistent in saying that troops will begin withdrawing in July 2011.