Lawmakers eye Afghanistan withdrawal date, funding

Top administration officials Wednesday conceded that the July 2011 date set by President Obama to begin a gradual withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan could change if conditions on the ground do not improve as quickly as the administration expects.

During the first in a series of congressional hearings on Obama's decision to deploy 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee the administration will thoroughly review the war's progress next December.

"Our current plan is that we will begin the transition [to Afghan security forces] in local areas in July 2011," Gates said after being pressed by panel members. "We will evaluate in December 2010 whether we believe we will be able to meet that objective."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the president's decision to set the July 2011 date sends a clear signal that "we are not interested in running their country, building their nation."

As they testified, House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha, D-Pa., told reporters he believes the administration will require a supplemental spending bill for this fiscal year totaling $40 billion -- $10 billion more than Obama estimated will be needed to pay for the strategy.

"This is a very expensive proposition," Murtha said.

He said the supplemental probably would include nonwar items. Previous supplementals have added purchases of F-22 Raptor fighter jets and other items critics have argued are not immediate warfighting needs. The F-22, for example, has not flown any missions in Afghanistan or Iraq.

But at the White House Wednesday, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said a decision to pay for the surge with a supplemental "is a bridge not yet crossed."

Murtha reiterated he does not want to see the money attached to the fiscal 2010 Defense spending bill, which Congress is expected to finalize by the end of the month. The White House, he said, has yet to provide his panel with any details on funding needs and Congress will need until the spring to sort through the request.

Obama's announcement Tuesday night of a date when troops would begin leaving Afghanistan has irked Republicans, who have largely supported his plans to beef up U.S. military forces in the country to combat increasing violence and train security forces.

Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member John McCain, R-Ariz., pledged support for the Afghanistan strategy. But he questioned the merits of setting a date to begin a troop withdrawal and raised concerns it would only further embolden al-Qaida and the Taliban and send the wrong message to allies.

"Success is the real exit strategy," he said.

But Gates defended the July 2011 date, arguing that it is important to communicate to Afghanistan that the United States is not offering an "open-ended commitment" of its combat forces. Top defense officials, Gates added, agree that the military should be able to begin to transfer out of Afghanistan in 18 months.

But Gates also stressed that July 2011 marks the beginning of a long process based on conditions on the ground. "We're not just going to throw these guys in the swimming pool and walk away," he said.

Obama's strategy drew some criticisms from key Democrats Wednesday, including Murtha, who said he is not convinced the plan will work. To monitor the military's progress in Afghanistan, he said he wants to put benchmarks in the supplemental.

Meanwhile, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., applauded Obama's commitment to boost the training of Afghan security forces, but he questioned the wisdom of deploying more combat forces.

"Where I have a question is whether the rapid deployment of a large number of U.S. combat forces, without an adequate number of Afghan security forces for our troops to partner with, serves that mission," he said.

George E. Condon Jr. contributed to this report.