Afghanistan

By Carl Levin, U.S. Senate
Wednesday, June 23, 2010

I thought you might be interested in my public comments this afternoon on President Obama's decision to accept General McChrystal's resignation and appoint General Petraeus to assume command of our forces in Afghanistan.

"I support President Obama's decision to accept General McChrystal's resignation. General McChrystal has made significant contributions to our nation's security during his long and very distinguished career in uniform, but we simply cannot afford distractions of this kind in the middle of a war.

"It's been clear in the last few days that there is no disagreement over policy between General McChrystal and the civilian leadership in the Administration.

"For many reasons, General Petraeus is a solid choice to take over in Afghanistan. He provides strength and continuity. Indeed, he was the architect of the counter-insurgency strategy - he literally wrote the book that set out that strategy.

"General Petraeus also agrees with both key parts of that strategy. He supports the surge of additional troops into Afghanistan by the end of the summer. He also agrees with the decision of the Commander-in-Chief that there will be reductions in our troop levels in Afghanistan beginning in July 2011, as the essential way of getting the Afghans to focus on the need to transition to them the responsibility for their own security.

"General Petraeus made clear last week in his testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee his agreement with that policy and that what will be conditions-based is not whether reductions begin in July 2011, but the pace of those reductions.

"I expect to hold the confirmation hearing on General Petraeus' nomination no later than next Tuesday."

Sincerely,

Carl Levin