Via The Hill: Out-of-Afghanistan rumblings on the Hill

When they won control of Congress in November, Democrats pressed their case to withdraw troops from Iraq and refocus on Afghanistan, but some are growing impatient with U.S. operations in Afghanistan as well.

This is a non-story, despite the fact that it tops Memeorandum at the moment. Consider: there is a great deal of sentiment in the Congress and in the public concerning a withdrawal from Iraq, yet we remain. If a great deal of political pressure on Iraq equates to no withdrawal, why in the world would some “rumblings” and some “growing impatien[ce]” by “some” Democrats equate to a serious likelihood of withdrawal from Afghanistan any time soon?

Really, the attention to this story simply looks like an excuse to slam Democrats for being pro-defeat or somesuch (for example: here, here and here). Quite frankly this is a case of taking one story that uses vague language and a few quotes waaaay too seriously. Indeed, James Joyner gets it right in a post entitled “Reporter Wants Out of Afghanistan, Blames Congressional Democrats“

The Hill’s Roxana Tiron reports that there’s a growing number of congressional Democrats who want to pull American troops out of Afghanistan. When one reads the story, however, it’s pretty clear that this still represents a tiny constituency.

Indeed.

If anything, the drug angle (noted in my previous post) will almost certainly lead to some kind of US presence for some time to come.

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3 Responses to “Speaking of Afghanistan…”

1. Peace Like A River Says:
   June 26th, 2007 at 9:46 am

   Operation Maiwand continues

   Operation Maiwand began in Afghanistan at the beginning of the month and is described as “the first Afghan-planned and executed operation to clear Taleban fighters” from Ghazni Province in eastern Afghanistan. It’s a shame that the defeatists in Was…

2. esimonson Says:
   June 26th, 2007 at 9:12 pm

   You may remember that the calls for pulling out of Iraq started with just only a few progressive “dissenters” and soon everyone was doing it.

   Don’t misunderestimate the capacity of Democrats and the left to use the anti-war template to drive their political agenda.

3. [H] Hegemonic Pundit Says:
   June 30th, 2007 at 12:31 am

   Didn’t take long

   It didn’t take long for Democrats to actually call for pulling troops out of Afghanistan too. It has been my contention that had we not invaded Iraq, Democrats would have made all the same arguments about Aghanistan as they have Iraq. Incredibly,…