Boehner criticizes White House reponse to Afghan election debacle

The White House should not use Afghanistan's current election turmoil as "a pretext to back away" from either its current strategy or forthcoming troop decision, the House's top Republican suggested Monday.

While Afghan leaders debate whether a runoff presidential contest is both necessary and plausible, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the entire fiasco merely evidenced why the White House needs to commit more troops to the war-torn state.

"The current political uncertainty should not be used as a pretext for the White House to back away from the counter-insurgency strategy the President announced in March," Boehner said in Monday's statement.

"General McChrystal’s assessment says that without timely reinforcements our efforts to deny al Qaeda and the Taliban a safe haven in Afghanistan may end in failure," he added. "It’s time for the Obama Administration to give our commander on the ground the resources he needs to better protect our troops and achieve the goals the President outlined in March."

For the most part, the Obama administration has opted to distance itself from Afghanistan's still-unfolding election troubles. Even after reports surfaced that President-reelect Hamid Karzai might not participate in the possible runoff -- a contest that seems increasingly likely -- White House officials have stressed the "onus is clearly" on Afghan leaders to solve their own debacle.

"I would, obviously, point you to comments that were made this weekend about the responsibility that all Afghans are going to have in both putting forward a government that is viewed as, in the eyes of both the Afghan people, as well as the international community, as truly legitimate," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said during Monday's press briefing.

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